


Soulmates are Fucking Rad

by Krembearry, Purplesauris



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grand Theft Auto Setting, Blow Jobs, Companion Piece, Fake AH Crew, GTA V AU, Hand Jobs, M/M, Mute!Ryan, NSFW, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Soulmate Tattoos, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 09:08:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12578384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krembearry/pseuds/Krembearry, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purplesauris/pseuds/Purplesauris
Summary: What happens when everyone's an asshole and they're all dating? You add a new member to the dick club.Companion piece: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12578448 - Soulmate Tattoos Fucking Suck





	Soulmates are Fucking Rad

They totalled up to 20 phrases. Years of fumbling and confusion led to an enormous clusterfuck of a relationship. Five men in the house, five men ruling a city, and five men arguing over what just happened on the heist.

“Gavin! You can’t just  _ crash an airplane _ , you’re going to give us all heart attacks!”

“What do you mean? I jumped out first!”

“If I wasn’t there to catch you when your parachute  _ didn’t work _ , you’d be dead!”

They all knew Gavin was safe, in reality. He was a very good stunt man, with the knowledge and flexibility to pull almost anything off. All the same, people could get mad at him for doing fool-hardy stuff.

Geoff was massaging his forehead, then pushed his hand up through his hair, sighing heavily. Despite his whole tired dad attitude, everyone slowly fell to a hush to hear what he had to say. He was the director of everything they did with Jack at his side. They’d been together the longest. ‘Nice moustache’ and ‘Nice beard’ would stand out on them forever in their bond built on facial hair.

“Guys… we could always expand. I can’t watch all of you. I’ve only got 2 eyes, and you all need eighteen to keep watch. We need someone solid who isn’t afraid to keep you in check, but might be able to keep loose and keep up with you.” Geoff looks at them all to see how they’re taking this.

As he looks over them all, he remembers how they all met. Every story, every phrase, every bizarre kooky thing that brought them together. Even though all their phrases matched up…

They all felt something was missing.

The lads looked to Jack next, to see his opinion. Jack looked between them, then back to Geoff. His eyes held back most of his opinion, wanting the lads to give their true thoughts before he spoke.

Michael never was the quiet one.

“Who do you plan on hiring, Geoff? It’s not like we can base it off magic words anymore. I don’t know a lot of people in this city I’d trust farther than Gavin can throw them. Everyone on that short list is already in this room.”

Jeremy spoke next. “With respect, I’m kinda on Michael’s side. I don’t know who we’d trust. It’s already enough of a fluke that you hired me, after… y’know, how I came into the picture.”

Geoff, Jack, Michael, and Gavin all knew what he meant, of course. They all shared the same phrase together. ‘I didn’t mean it I’m so sorry but seriously are you hiring?’ was one of the tattoos adorning all their bodies.

Jeremy had a lot of ‘no’ on him, though in much more colorful language.

The two Lads that had spoken look to Gavin now, who chews softly on his lip. “I… I think it wouldn’t be too bad to see someone new around. It’s fun enough with just you lot, but imagine what we could do with even one more person? We could absolutely  _ ruin _ the city. I don’t want to add too many, and if we don’t like them, then we don’t like them. We know how to handle that.”

Gavin’s reasoning actually surprises everyone. Geoff had expected him to want to stay as they were, but he grins, knowing Gavin always surprises him. Jack sits up a bit straighter, catching the attention of the group.

“I’m for adding a new member, and I might just know the guy.”

\--

Jack leans heavily on his cart, the conversation yesterday out of his mind for now. He glances down at the list in his hand, sighing softly. Geoff had an idea for extravagant dinner, since the new Game of Thrones episode was coming on soon and he really wanted to watch it with everyone. It looked like he wanted to make homemade pizza? So really, Jack was all about it.

Right, starting in the produce aisle.

He pushes his cart forward, gathering up some pineapple and mushrooms, bagging an onion or two when he feels wind go by. A child is scooting around using a cart, zooming through aisles of mangos and lettuce. Jack can’t believe how much it reminds him of the Lads. He comes around the next aisle, hunting down that last produce. He notices a man standing at the top of the aisle, and then the man sticks his foot out in front of the kid. The child stares as the cart flips and hits the tomatoes hard, soaking him in tomato juice.

Jack nearly bumps into the man as he’s laughing, shaking his head and reaching for his prize. He glances up at the man, a bit of mischief in his eyes, letting him know that Jack saw everything.

“They never have any good tomatoes, do they?”

The stranger laughs at Jack’s joke, and when Jack finishes with the tomatoes he goes back to the bell peppers, realizing he’d forgotten a color. Red peppers were the  _ best _ , how could he forget?

For some reason, though, Jack can’t shake the feeling that he’s missing something else.

\--

“I know we’re not all sure about it, but do we all agree that he’s the  _ best _ candidate?”

“I still don’t know who that is, but sure, Geoff.”

“I think it’ll be fine!”

“I hope he’s not as creepy as they say.”

“He’s probably a big softy, we don’t have anything to worry about.”

\--

His informant had told him that the Vagabond would be here tonight. But where was he? Wasn’t this guy supposed to be punctual?

Well, Geoff may have gotten here like, 2 hours before the Vagabond was supposed to arrive. Come  _ on _ , like he wasn’t going to have one or two or six drinks before encountering this guy. Geoff wasn’t necessarily scared of him, just… nervous. He was inviting a stranger into their little family and he didn’t want anything to go wrong.

Of course the Vagabond chooses to sit at a spot on the other end of the bar. Geoff lugs himself out of his chair, and though he functions well, it’s still a little obvious he’s drunk. He slides into the seat beside the Vagabond, trying to stare at him slyly. Oh yeah, there’s no way he suspects a thing.

Who would have guessed the Vagabond liked bendy straws? Cute.

Geoff waits patiently for the Vagabond’s client to show up, not wanting him to leave before and have to reschedule the meeting. Geoff is slowly realizing that he should not have been left alone in a bar for 2 hours, because he really is on the wrong side of tipsy. It’s only getting worse the longer he lets it sit, but he doesn’t know when he’ll run into the Vagabond again. In a lapse of judgement, he grabs onto the Vagabond’s shoulder before he leaves the bar. It earns him an extremely cold, bone-chilling stare which Geoff doesn’t notice in the least.

“Ever wanna work for a thug daddy like me, big boy?”

Huh. That’s not what he meant to say at all.

The Vagabond responds in the same way any reasonable man would: he chokeslams Geoff into the counter. Geoff can feel fingers tight around his throat, and the only fucking thing he can think to say is, “Woah, kinky.”

Geoff’s nimble fingers manage to slip a business card into Ryan’s pocket before he’s unceremoniously tossed down the bar counter. He tumbles onto the floor, looking at his ruined suit for just a second. When he looks up again, there’s a bunch of angry bar patrons and no sign of the Vagabond. Geoff pinches his lapel, hurriedly whispering.

“Hey, uh, Mama Bear? Might need extraction.”

\--

The next time Geoff hears from Vagabond is several weeks later. He’s tangled in boyfriends and wakes groggily to the sound of his phone ringing in the other room. Geoff moves aside Jack’s arm, tugging one of his legs out from between Michael and Jeremy. Gavin has ended up at the end of the bed by himself, so once Geoff has escaped, he lifts Gavin up and tucks him into the center of the cuddle pile. The bigger boys immediately envelope the smallest of them all, and Gavin smiles in his sleep.

By the time Geoff makes it to the living room, the phone has stopped ringing. He lifts it up, noticing the time.

“Oh, 7 am? Gross.”

He listens to the voicemail anyway to make sure it’s nothing that needs his immediate attention, only for a tapping to begin. He plops down onto the couch, grabbing his Gavin sharpie from his jeans on the floor and writing on a napkin with bleary eyes. He doesn’t really think about the words themselves until he’s finished translating the morse code.

“Shit, the Vagabond? Oh my god. It worked.”

All the same, now he had the Vagabond’s number. He’d call back later, though. He’s got shit to do, like going back to bed for a few years.

It’s hours later when he remembers the Vagabond’s message. Geoff gets the number out on his phone and calls it back, only to be greeted with some wretched sounds of people being rendered. Before long, the sounds of blood splatter and bones breaking stops, and Geoff speaks.

“Hey, okay so that was fucking gross to listen to, but my crew has agreed that they all want to meet you first. I’m assuming you know where we live, seeing as you’re the Vagabond and it would be weirder for you not to know than for you to know. Swing by tomorrow, if you can. We can ta-”

…

“Did he just hang up on me?”

Jack, in the driver’s seat, tries and fails to muffle his laugh. Geoff blows a raspberry at him, and then they kiss before Jack takes the next turn.

\--

Well, the Vagabond was coming over today. Geoff made sure to have only Jack and Michael here, knowing that more than one Lad would be a disaster. Michael was the most reasonable of them, even if he didn’t really want to add someone new to their group. He sat on the couch, grumbling and looking upset while Geoff stood near the elevator.

The mob boss wouldn’t describe himself as anxious. Maybe excited was the word? He tries to straighten up his hair to no avail when the elevator opens. He’s made sure to keep himself more sober for this meeting, considering the disaster of the last one. He grins, then shows the Vagabond his hands before offering a shake. He’s expecting it when the Vagabond squeezes his hand almost too tight, and Geoff doesn’t squeeze him nearly as hard. He doesn’t need to try to intimidate the man. This is a friendly meeting. He clears his throat though, noticing his nerves coming up a bit. He hesitates in classic Geoff fashion.

“Uh, go ahead and take a seat wherever you’d like. Do you want like, a drink of something?”

The Vagabond doesn’t respond.

This is going to be a good meeting.

“So, depending on how you wanna talk, both Jack and I know morse code, and Jack knows ASL. Oh, shit. This is Jack and Michael.”

Michael sneers, looking at the arrogant way the Vagabond sits down. “Who’s this creepy fuckin’ cunt?” The bomb expert masks the way he gets chills from the way the Vagabond moves. It’s obvious that Vagabond doesn’t appreciate his words, but Michael kinda doesn’t give a fuck. “Seriously, who is he? I know he’s the Vagabond or whatever, but that doesn’t fucking say who he is. If he’s going to be working with us we have to know  _ something  _ about him.”

Jack reaches over and touches Michael’s shoulder, giving him a stern look. “It’s not your place to ask that yet, Mikey. He just got here.”

To this, Michael tugs his arm out of Jack’s reach, crossing them and huffing. They know his stance on this situation. Jack knows he’ll get over it though, and he just rolls his eyes before looking back to the Vagabond.

“So, we all know the reputation you have, but we want to see it. Well, I don’t particularly care, I know you’ll be able to work with Geoff and I.”

To this, Geoff gets war flashbacks to the bar. Yeah, a fantastic team. Though in all honesty, who  _ hasn’t  _ chokeslammed Geoff into a bar yet? It’s probably just Gavin. He’s not much of the chokeslamming type. The Vagabond starts tapping out a response to them, and the two Gents listen in, whispering to each other once he’s done. Geoff looks up at the Vagabond first, speaking.

“We’re more seasoned than our boys are, and they’re rowdy fucks anyhow, so we need to see that you can run and keep up with them before we’re going to greenlight you.”

To this, the Vagabond replies immediately with a joke about gaslighting him. Geoff feels like he’s going to fucking ascend, because this fuck is already telling shitty jokes. It’s worse because Jack  _ laughs _ in his stupidly charming way. Michael, however, has pretty much no idea what’s going on, and he shifts uncomfortably in his seat, looking at the older men like they’re gardening eggs.

“So are we gonna do this or what?”

Everyone looks to Michael, which probably isn’t fantastic for his nerves, but then the Vagabond waves his hand at them and they get back to it. Jack sighs softly, then gives Michael another patented Pattillo ™  look.

“Just don’t try to get him killed first thing, okay? Especially not with Gav with you guys.” Jack would really appreciate if Michael didn’t go out of his way to off the Vagabond. He doubts Michael is smarter, but the Lads are known for their destructive dumb luck, especially together. Of course Michael rolls his eyes, because what the fuck  _ ever _ Jack, he promises that he won’t do anything stupid to the Vagabond. Stupid things in general remain on the table in plain sight. He’s always ready to do dumb shit.

Geoff and Jack seem satisfied with that, and Michael grunts softly as he gets out of his seat, going to grab his car keys. He heads to the elevator, ignoring how the Vagabond is literally right behind him. Like, christ alive, does he need to be that close? If he wasn’t wearing the mask, Michael is pretty sure he could feel his hair getting sucked into the Vagabond’s nose with every breath. He swings his keys up over his shoulder just to try and dissuade the Vagabond from following so closely. Sure enough, it knocks him in the mask. The Vagabond’s hand seems to warp out of fucking nowhere to snatch the keys from Michael.

As they head down the elevator, Michael tries not to look at the Vagabond as he frowns as hard as he possibly can. This masked man is just the  _ worst _ . He doesn’t think he cares for the Vagabond at all so far, but of course, they have to see how everyone plays together.

Maybe he’ll be more bearable with Gavin in the car too.

Once they step out into the garage, one of the cars starts screeching. Michael hides the way it makes his heart jump, but he can see Gavin in the backseat fucking flipping completely over. He looks like a ferret on a windmill, oh  _ god _ . Michael gets into the driver’s seat once he gets the keys back, glancing back at Gavin to notice him recovering from the onslaught of sound he’d received from the car suddenly going into panic mode.

He sees the Vagabond glance back and snort. In all honesty, that’s fair. Gavin’s pretty fuckin’ funny when he’s startled.

All the same, Michael spends a majority of the car ride brooding over how the Vagabond just stole his keys like that. He announces how far away they are, and this seems to give Gavin his nerve, because he leans forward in his seat and asks the Vagabond a question.

“Would you rather suck a dick or take it up the arse, Vagabond?”

The car swerves as Michael freaks out for a second, complemented by the sound of the Vagabond banging his knee into the glovebox. The Vagabond whips his head around and gives Gavin the most disheartening stare he’s ever seen. However, Gavin takes after his adoptive father in that he doesn’t really care about how the Vagabond is staring at him. Gavin just frowns, and Michael is growling.

“Gav, he doesn’t fucking talk. Unless you know fucking morse code you aren’t going to get shit from him.”

To this, Gavin whines and complains, one of his hands coming up to touch Michael’s shoulder. “But Michael, I wanna know  _ now _ .” He continues to complain to Michael, Michael shouting right back at him.

“He’s not going to talk! Leave it alone, Gavin!”

“But I’ve gotta know! Michael, it’s important for  _ science _ !”

“Get your dick science out of my car!”

“Get your car science out of my cock!”

“Have you fucked in my car? You wouldn’t fucking  _ dare _ , Gav.”

“Michael but you don’t understand- I- URGH.”

Gavin shoves his face into the leather seats, groaning loudly.

“Gavin don’t you leave nose craters in my beautifully upholstered seats, I  _ just _ got the blood cleaned out  _ finally-” _

“But c’mon boi! Wouldn’t you want to know if one of the most famous mercenaries was more interested in sucking cock or gettin’ buggered? We all know who would do what already and I just wanna-”

They’re interrupted by the Vagabond leaning over and pounding the horn, blasting it and not letting go when Michael tries to push him off. They both just kinda try to turn away from the sound, and it isn’t until they’ve totally shut up that the Vagabond pulls off the horn. Gavin tries to say something a few minutes later, but Michael gives a swift honk himself, finding that he agrees with the Vagabond on this. Gavin needs to be quiet. For some reason, he feels like they’ve actually upset him, so Michael lets him have his silence. Gavin huffs, and he just leans against the window on the Vagabond’s side, staring out at the passing cityscape. Maybe some action will finally diffuse the situation.

When they stop, the Lads jump out to get into the trunk. Gavin notices that the Vagabond wanders off some, and he grins at his back, happy to see that he’s still sticking around. Once they start pulling out guns, the Vagabond comes in closer, making Gavin grin even wider, eyes sparkling.

“Couldn’t resist a good cockin’ huh Vagabond?”

Michael groans so loud, leaning forward and hanging his head for a second. The Vagabond signs something to Gavin roughly, and then Gavin squawks, clutching the gun to his chest.

“That isn’t nice at all Vagabond, don’t you know proper manners?”

To this, both Michael and the Vagabond look shocked. How did Gavin know?

“Do you even know what he said, dipshit?”

Gavin turns to Michael, absently handing the shotgun to the Vagabond while he huffs at his boi. “You know my buddy Dan, right? He has a cousin that was deaf and he was the greatest bloke I knew, so I learned how to do those hand words.”

“Do you mean sign language?”

“Yeah yeah, you know what I mean boi! Obviously our new friend here knows it.”

The Vagabond is just standing there holding his shotgun while Michael and Gavin have their little back and forth, staring at them. Gavin manages to catch the Vagabond beginning to sign again, and he turns totally to him, watching his hand motions as the Vagabond asks him why he still remembers. Gavin is a bit shaky as he responds, but he lets the Vagabond know that it’s useful when comms are down or being monitored.

After a moment, Gavin gasps softly and tucks his hand to his ear, listening.

“Hey Tim, you all cozy?”

He’s talking to the other member of the Lads through an earpiece that had been oddly hidden until now. Jeremy crackles through with his response, and Gavin nods, grinning. Michael shuts the trunk and cocks his own gun, looking utterly done with everything. Gavin laughs softly, then coos back through the comms, giggling as he answers Jeremy.

“Awwww, don’t you worry your little bum, Vagabond won’t hurt me! Okay, well he could, but no worries!”

To this, the Vagabond snorts and turns away.

Gavin is suddenly not so sure, but he doesn’t let it show.

Michael pushes Gavin closer to the target and also the Vagabond, who doesn’t move away, but does seem more tense. Obviously, he doesn’t like having them be too close to him. Understandable, really. Gavin’s kind of a walking trainwreck of a human and Michael is just a lot. Michael catches the Vagabond’s attention as he begins speaking next.

“Okay, so we’re going to go and rob the gas station. Gavin and I, we’re going to go and scream at the guy. Vagabond, do you think you can handle any cops? Tim will be up in the sky if you need him.”

Immediately, Michael seems unnerved by looking at the Vagabond too long and turns around again. Gavin is still looking at the Vagabond, just listening to Michael absently when the Vagabond asks him to steal some diet coke as well. Gavin nods once he deciphers the words, then makes a motion with his hands that the Vagabond has never seen before.

Michael has just told Gavin not to fucking touch anything, but also Gavin has no qualms against getting his new friend some soda. What could be better! This way they’ll definitely get close in no time. He wonders if diet coke is the Vagabond’s favorite. There’s a lot of intriguing things about the Vagabond he hopes to learn, and he’d love to interact with him more. New people are so exciting!

The Vagabond climbs up on top of the car while the Lads go take care of the gas station itself. Michael heads to the front to secure the cashier while Gavin heads around, making sure all the patrons are locked in the back. He gets distracted, of course, looking through the sodas and finding the diet cokes. He pockets a few, and then Michael is yelling for him. Gavin sprints up front to load up the duffels with money, then he’s running outside to the sound of distant sirens. He chucks one of his prizes to the Vagabond who catches it effortlessly.

“Gavin! What did I say about not touching anything  _ you utter moron _ !”

Gavin doesn’t really respond, busy jumping into the car and yelling incoherently. Michael gets into the passenger seat in automatic response to the Vagabond getting into the driver’s seat, to which he immediately yells in confusion.

“How the fuck did you get my keys? You know what, never-fucking-mind I don’t even want to know. Tim is coming down right now, once we grab him we can take off.”

The Vagabond glances around at the others in the car, revving the engine as he does so. None of them take notice, because Jeremy comes pouring through sunroof. His white cowboy hat falls off onto the floor of the car, and then he struggles to get inside, shouting to announce his arrival as though busting through a roof isn’t enough.

“It’s Timmy Tim, bitch! Wait-fuck-”

The Vagabond slams on the gas halfway through Jeremy climbing into the car, and he’s aggressively jostled, dropping through and onto Gavin’s lap. Gavin wheezes, but then the Vagabond is whipping the car over so hard they nearly capsize. Everyone is screaming as they’re thrown around the car, the Vagabond driving so aggressively that they fear more for their lives running away from the cops than facing them.

When they coast into a stop at the penthouse, Gavin’s looking a little green in the face. The tires smoke and no one notices the Vagabond attempt to take a victory swig from his bottle, only to realize he’d have to expose his face and dejectedly screwing the cap back on. After some flailing, Jeremy manages to catch the door handle and open it up, all of the Lads spilling out onto the pavement. Michael manages to stay upright at least, if not bumping into another car in his attempt to get his legs back together.

Gavin hits the ground first, but then Jeremy falls out on top of him.

The sound of soda cans cracking open and hissing as they begin to soak the Lads is nothing short of satisfying for the Vagabond. All of the Lads resort to animal instincts, trying to escape the onslaught of pressurized foam spilling from Gavin’s pockets. Before long, it all stops, leaving the car and the Lads dripping.

Michael gets his wits back first.

“That’s what you fucking get for taking those from the gas station!”

“B-but Michael he asked and I wanted to get some for later too and- aHA! Here!” Gavin’s face goes from dejected to delighted as he fishes out an uncracked can. It’s got a bit of a dent in it, but nothing too bad. He tosses it to the Vagabond, wanting him to get at least one part of his present.

The Vagabond catches the diet coke, pulls out a knife, and promptly stabs it.

Soda sprays fucking everywhere and the Vagabond just stands there as if he hadn’t been expecting that to happen.

The Lads stare at him in horror for a second, and then Gavin can’t help cracking up, laughing loud and happily at how they all ended up getting soaked. The Vagabond walks off while they’re still laughing, and when they all finally calm down and get up, he’s waiting by the elevator.

The look on Geoff’s fucking face when the elevator door opens is absolutely priceless. He shifts from elation to exhaustion, looking at everyone soaked in soda.

Geoff’s eyes go a little bit more dead.

“What did you do? Jeremy, please tell me you didn’t do this.”

Jeremy shakes his head vehemently, but all Geoff can see is the fucking bells of heaven coming to save him from this worldly hell he had created for himself.

What the fuck was he supposed to do with these fucking kids.

Michael tries desperately to save himself in the eyes of their boss, always ready to suck up to Geoff.

“We- we got the money but- Gavin had fucking cans of soda in his pockets and they exploded, and he gave one to the Vagabond and he just-” As Michael explains, he just starts giggling, eventually breaking out into full laughter just thinking about everything that happened. “He fucking stabbed the can and now he’s covered too!”

Geoff swears that the last bit of his soul is struggling to escape. Why must he suffer. Why is everyone else laughing. This is the absolute end of all ends.

With the helping hands of Jack patting his shoulders, Geoff manages to try and salvage this.

“Well, I guess you proved that you can run with the Lads at least. You can shower if you want, but uh, you don’t happen to have a spare set of clothes in that bag do ya?”

The Vagabond shakes his head and yeah, Geoff’s soul is definitely leaving him. His eyes fucking gloss over and Jack chuckles, holding onto Geoff to keep him upright, at least.

“I’ll go get him something to wear. The bathroom is down the hall, second on the right.”

Jack walks off and grabs the Vagabond some clothes, delivering them before he gets into the bathroom. Jeremy does his best to comfort his horridly depressed boyfriend and gives Geoff a sticky, wet, disgusting hug. Geoff sobs onto his shoulder.

Eventually, everyone gets changed and rinses off, but the whole crew is back in the living room before the Vagabond is out of the shower. Geoff doesn’t comment on this yet, instead focusing on everyone there.

“Alright, so how would you rate him?”

Gavin grins, sitting up immediately.

“He’s brilliant! Bang-up sense of humor, responsible, and he’s good at what he does! I mean, we already knew  _ that _ , but it’s cool to see it in practice.” Gavin seems excited enough, but Jeremy pouts.

“I mean, it was pretty fucking funny he got the coke all over himself, but he also drove off with me half out of the sunroof!”

Geoff’s eyes go wide, but Michael scoffs at Jeremy. “Yeah, and who’s brilliant idea was it to jump into the getaway car  _ through the sunroof _ ?”

Jeremy concedes. That  _ is  _ a good point. Michael continues on with his opinion.

“He works well with us, even if we can’t talk. He  _ did _ give Gavin a direct order that contradicted mine. I told Grabbin not to touch anything, but then Vagabond asked if he could grab him a diet coke. It’s nothing any of us wouldn’t do. We just need to do more with him if we want to think so seriously about taking him on.”

Geoff and Jack take the information in, thinking hard. Geoff glances off to the shower, rubbing his neck softly as his mind races. “Knowing you guys, he’s probably drowning himself in the shower like I want to. Go check on him, I’m going to go start working on his next mission.” At that, Geoff gets up and moves into the planning room, shutting the door behind himself. Jack leads the Lads to the bathroom, knocking on the door until it’s opened.

The Vagabond shoves out his nasty, coke-stained clothes. Jack graciously accepts the gift and leaves to go wash them with everyone else’s. The Lads move back when the Vagabond comes out, looking nervous at seeing him walking around in such normal clothes. His mask remains tight to his face, but no one, not even Gavin, is about to fuss about that.

Once the Vagabond is out of earshot, Gavin leans over to whisper into Jeremy’s ear.

“He’s kinda fit, in’t he?”

“Yeah, he… fuck, he is.”

Michael rolls his eyes at them, kissing them to roughly remind them that not only are they dating each other already, but they have three more boyfriends who are demanding their attention. They don’t need some new guy ruining what they have. Gavin settles into a smile once he’s gotten the attention, and he grabs onto Jeremy and Michael’s hands, leading them back out into the main room.

“Hey, Vagabond! Want something to eat? We can make something and we’ve got a spare room you can eat it in, if ya don’t want us to see your face quite yet or ever.”

Gavin’s face absolutely lights up when the Vagabond says that he’s ravenous, and would like some food and a straw for his bottle of diet coke that survived The Incident. The other two have no idea what’s going on, and Gavin takes his hands away from them, rapidly signing back as he talks.

“That’s lovely! Anything particular you’d want? We’ve got tons of different stuff. I’ll get you a straw now!” He doesn’t bother signing the last part, rushing off and returning with a bendy straw, gifting it to the Vagabond and really enjoying being able to help their new friend. He’s always been enamored by new things, but something is different about this.

The Vagabond asks if he can make his own food under supervision, and Gavin is very excited to agree. The perfect part is that while Gavin can’t cook, his eyes are sharper than anything and he won’t miss a detail of the Vagabond’s cooking. Jeremy and Michael are just stunned, watching as the Vagabond whips something incredible up.

“He’s cooking in Geoff’s kitchen.” Jeremy’s breath barely whispers out past his lips.

“He’s cooking for  _ all  _ of us.” Michael’s shocked words follow soon after.

As soon as the Vagabond starts serving stuff, Jeremy and Gavin are the first to the table, willing to let anyone feed them. Jack finally walks back into room when Jeremy calls, along with Geoff coming out of the meeting room. From across the common area, the two bosses look at each other curiously. Jack shrugs, and then they both watch as the Vagabond, clad in Geoff’s “Kiss the Cook” apron, walks out of the kitchen with a big plate of garlic bread.

Well, Jack doesn’t need anymore convincing than that.

Everyone sits down around the table, enjoying the food. Geoff is having his own internal monologue as he considers everything about the Vagabond joining the crew. They have to take him out on a six man heist, and he’ll have to invite the Vagabond to live with them. What makes them the best crew, he thinks, is being in close quarters and  _ knowing _ each other. They know every quirk, every tick, but they still learn and fuck up and  _ grow _ from the experiences.

He just doesn’t know how in the world he’s going to ask the fucking  _ Vagabond _ to move in with them.

Oh, fuck it. This chicken alfredo is kind of the most divine thing he’s ever eaten, and it would be in his better interest to inhale it before the rest of the crew gets it.

Geoff isn’t the only one with problems though. While everyone is busy in their brains or cramming pasta in their throats, Jeremy glances up at the Vagabond to compliment him on the meal.

What he sees isn’t something he’d ever dreamed.

The Vagabond, international terror, mercenary for hire, bountyhunter, fucking  _ whatever _ , has just delicately swirled up a forkful of pasta and smeared it across his face. Jeremy’s eyebrows knit together in concern as he lowers his own forkful of pasta. The Vagabond seems to try to cover his mistake by wiping the alfredo sauce off with some garlic bread. Jeremy can see into the depths of the mask, catches a glimpse of blue eyes filled with complete and utter panic as the Vagabond quickly scans the table, checking to see if anyone saw.

His eyes lock with Jeremy’s, and even without a voice, Jeremy hears him loud and clear.

‘ _ No one will believe you.’ _

Jeremy just turns his head down into his plate and shoves about a fistful of noodles into his mouth as if it will make him forget.

With Jeremy out of the way, Gavin of course has to start sneaking looks at the Vagabond. He manages to catch a glimpse as the Vagabond tilts his mask up, briefly exposing his mouth. Gavin gasps and turns to Michael in a hushed whisper.

“Michael! He’s got  _ dick-sucking lips _ !”

Michael doesn’t stop chewing, just punching Gavin’s thigh. Gavin whines out Michael’s name, and literally no one at the table cares about his problems when he’s doing that. This is no exception.

“I was just kidding, y’know.”

Michael shoves garlic bread into Gavin’s mouth. Literally  _ anything _ to shut this british prick up. Gavin grumbles to himself and finishes up his dinner. He notices that Jeremy seems to be in a rush to leave the table with how fast he’s eating. Jeremy seems to have a mild panic to the way he moves, but Gavin will brush it off. This seems normal. Maybe. It’s probably fine and has nothing to do with the Vagabond.

The Vagabond is the first to leave the table, going to go start on the dishes. Geoff looks after him and squints slightly, wondering if this is a power move for a second before realizing what the Vagabond is doing. He looks at Jack in bewilderment, pointing at the Vagabond. Jack shrugs. He’s got bigger problems than what the Vagabond’s dishwashing methods are. Jack’s got a big beard, and lots of chicken that has fallen into it.

Geoff looks up to the sky and gathers himself. He swears he can hear God say, “Go get ‘em, tiger.”

Geoff is also almost certain he’s losing his fucking mind, but he supposes that his hallucinogenic version of God will work for strengthening his will. He’s going to need all the help he can get because he’s about to get domestic with the Vagabond. After a few more seconds, Geoff gathers some plates and heads over to help wash the dishes.

Once they’ve finished the dishes and the Vagabond has hung up Geoff’s apron, Geoff listens as he taps out a question about his clothes. Geoff clears his throat some, then he tries to act as nonchalant as possible when he poses an idea. 

“You can uh, stay the night if you want. The couch is comfy and I’ll get you some blankets?”

Immediately, Gavin pokes his head in, grinning.

“Oh, I love sleepovers!”

Great. Now it’s a fucking sleepover.

Geoff can hear Michael swearing under his breath, and he can’t help the little bit of joy it gives him. Michael might complain the most about Gavin, but he loves the boy fiercely. There’s no way in hell he would ever let Gavin sleep out there alone with the Vagabond. He doesn’t even say he’s going to join, just gets to work gathering blankets and pillows.

The Vagabond himself turns away and settles down onto one of the couches as the Lads begin constructing a pillow fort. Gavin knocks it down no less than twice in the time that it takes for Geoff to procure a blanket for the Vagabond to sleep under. To be fair though, Jeremy also knocks it down once. Geoff takes a look at them all, gives everyone except the Vagabond a gentle kiss on the head goodnight, then just shuts off the light without warning as he heads to bed. Jack wraps an arm over his shoulders, leading him off and hoping to help Geoff destress from the way the day went.

Everyone is comfy and actually enjoying the sleepover when the wheezing starts.

Gavin wrestles his way out of Jeremy and Michael’s grip, his hair already wild as he tries to catch a glimpse of the Vagabond, hoping that he’s alright. What he sees is just the murderous man crushing his masked face into the couch cushions while also crushing a pillow to his chest. It’s shocking.

He’s a cuddler? And also a burrower.

Gavin smiles at the new knowledge, because that’s really fucking cute.

He opens his phone and makes a purchase right then and there, wanting to give the Vagabond a memento of their time together, just as he does with everyone he likes. Once he’s finished, he cuddles back down into his Lad pile, letting Michael and Jeremy crush him down and snuggle him.

\--

The next morning, it’s no surprise that the first person awake is the Vagabond. The Lads are only hardly starting to think about waking up when Geoff makes his way out of his room. He makes it into the kitchen to see that there’s already coffee brewed and ready for the taking. It’s still hot.

Really, Geoff craves death so much at this point that he doesn’t care about who made the coffee. He makes himself a cup of black with a single creamer, then comes to sit down on the couch next to the Vagabond, who’s sipping coffee through a straw and reading a newspaper.

“Is that my newspaper? How did you get into my mailbox?”

Geoff doesn’t really need an answer. The Vagabond looks at him placidly, but Geoff just lets his head fall back to look away, shutting his eyes while his face is turned to the skies.

“Why do I even ask, you probably have a set of keys for the place already.”

The Vagabond snickers, but Geoff doesn’t care. He’s just trying to let the caffeine soak into his bones so  _ something _ can hold all the weight on his shoulders. As he’s sitting there, trying to descend into a bean-bliss, a hefty weight of papers paps him gently. Geoff takes it, accepting his pre-read newspaper and glaring back at the Vagabond suspiciously.

“You kept the funnies, didn’t you? I wanted to read those first.”

The Vagabond just gives him a look, but Geoff knows it doesn’t matter who reads them first, he’ll get to them later. Geoff is barely into his paper when the Lads start crawling out of their den, intent on getting Geoff to cook for them. Geoff shuts his eyes and ignores the sweet kisses and tired requests, just drinking his coffee and glancing to the Vagabond for a sympathetic glance, perhaps. The Vagabond has made himself scarce, and the sound of a car shredding rubber on the pavement sounds from down below. Geoff can’t believe the utter betrayal, but he supposes it’s fair. He wouldn’t want to deal with this either, so he doesn’t. Geoff just continues to sit and sip coffee.

That is, until there’s a sizzling in the kitchen.

Geoff and the Lads look up and see the Vagabond cooking a breakfast for them now, wearing Geoff’s apron again. Fuck, he’s got himself a job as a full time house attendant if he keeps this up. Jack finally emerges from his room, enticed by the smell, and they all share the breakfast that the Vagabond gifts to them.

Once their bellies are full again, Geoff brings them into the planning room. He’d spent a long time getting it all sorted out yesterday, and he explains the plan to them now.

“Alright kiddos, heist is in three days. Nice Dynamite, you’re gonna be in the bank with me. Michael’s gonna be the intimidation and crowd control, which means our lovely boy gets to have his minigun.” Geoff pauses a moment so that Michael can pump out a ‘ _ yes’ _ . “Gavin will be with me so I can watch him, helping me cram as much money as we can into our packs. Jack, you’re bringing the extraction vehicles, and will join us inside when you’ve got them in place. Michael will head out to help the Vagabond out with the cop problem, which the Vagabond will be on guard for. Jeremy is up on his perch as always.”

As Geoff speaks, he’s glancing around the room, making sure everyone’s got it. He feels like the Vagabond isn’t paying too much attention, but Geoff goes into details for a while. Once he’s finished, he claps his hands together and looks at them all.

“Well? Questions, comments, concerns?”

To his surprise, the Vagabond stands up. Gavin gets excited and sits up a bit more as well, wanting to know what he’s up to. The Vagabond begins signing and Gavin does his best to translate, Jack helping him when he gets a little lost.

“He says that we’ll all need a bag. Four of us will have money, two are gonna have bigger bags and make separate getaways, because the police always go after the biggest bags.” Gavin’s eyes widen as he starts seeing the sense in it. “Money team will have backpacks, while distraction team will have duffels. Vagabond wants to be on distraction team, doesn’t mind whoever wants to lead a ruse with him.” After a moment, Michael says he’ll do it, liking the thought of a high speed chase. He loves that shit.

Geoff is liking the plan so far, and he crosses his arms, looking at the Vagabond quizzically. “What will the two decoys do once the two money teams are away and safe?”

“He says that the decoys will lead the police away long enough for the money teams to be safe, and then they’ll meet up and change vehicles. From there, the two will break off again and go to their own safe houses.”

Geoff seems a bit upset at this news. “You aren't going to our safe house?” The Vagabond shrugs and shakes his head, and Gavin looks sad when he’s translating again.

“He says there's no need. He’ll get his pay once we’re all back at base.”

They chat about communication for a while, but eventually everything gets settled and they split off into groups again. The Vagabond silently thanks Gavin for translating, and Gavin beams. Michael hesitates in the door when he sees that the Vagabond will be alone with Gavin, but after a second he walks off, allowing this to happen. Gavin settles down on the table in front of the Vagabond, signing as he talks.

“So, how did you come up with that plan? It takes bloody months for us to even think about starting to come up with a new heist!”

The Vagabond responds by telling him it’s just experience. Police follow the biggest bags to get the most return. Hypothetically, the biggest bags are the most dangerous criminals, which makes them get more bang for their buck. In the case of this heist, they’ll absolutely be correct. Michael was the most outwardly violent one in their crew, and judging by the Vagabond’s reputation, he didn’t have a clean nose either. Suddenly a thought comes to Gavin, and he sits up a little more, seeming confused.

“The empty duffle bags don’t really have a shape to them though, right? You’d think that they would see through the rouse rather easily.”

The Vagabond stops for a second, eyes wide as he considers. He turns to the whiteboard and gets to sketching, writing a couple words to make more sense of the nonsense shape he’s created. Gavin gasps, clapping his hands together.

“Foam! That’s  _ brilliant  _ Vagabond! You don’t want the bags to actually weigh you down while on the motorcycle, and if you just packed it with stuff it wouldn’t look right. If you take blocks of foam and cut it all screwy like, it’ll look like stacks of money!”

Gavin gets the sense that he’s pleased the Vagabond, and he puffs himself up before saying he’s going to go tell Geoff this detail. The Vagabond writes that he’ll go to the store to buy some bags, and Gavin nods, practically skipping out the room. The Vagabond slips out of the penthouse like a shadow, but everyone is a flurry with heist activity. Geoff is going over the map with them again, then deciding which cars would be best for the getaway. Michael knows that the Vagabond is going to be using a motorcycle to escape, due to the maneuverability, and he’d like the same.

Over the course of the day, everything is worked out and they all head to bed. Limbs are piled over limbs and someone is kissing someone else when Gavin gets a call. He slips right out between someone’s legs and snatches his phone, escaping to the living room so he doesn’t bother anyone. After seeing it’s a videocall, he grins, excited to see the Vagabond found that Gavin had slipped his number into his phone.

The Vagabond seems a bit disheveled, and Gavin is very interested in the look of his room and bedclothes. It’s all very interesting stuff, but then he wants to know what the Vagabond is up to too bad to wait any longer. He uses signs though, to stay quiet.

“What’s up, big guy?”

The Vagabond hesitates like he’s surprised, but then he responds in time. He… admits that he wasn’t listening to half of what Geoff said, and doesn’t know when the heist is.

Gavin can’t help squeaking out a few snickers, smiling at the Vagabond as he answers. “It’s in three days. Good gracious Vagabond, you come up with an amazing plan and don’t even remember when the heist is.”

Gavin teases him, but immediately the Vagabond closes off. The enigma of a man says thank you and goodnight before the call abruptly ends, Gavin left sputtering and confused. Why had the Vagabond called him if that was it? Gavin picks up his phone, staring at it curiously before finally deciding to go back to bed.

\--

The next three days are spent in rapid preparation, culminating in Gavin whisking the Vagabond away to do some shopping. The rest of the crew goes to Sub Urban, but Gavin tells the Vagabond that he  _ knows _ he’s got better taste than that, so instead they head to Ponsonby’s. Everyone else says that Ponsonby’s is too expensive for this, but Gavin loves it. Everything is just so much more  _ fun _ when it’s more expensive.

Gavin is dragging the Vagabond all up and down the store, having him trying on different clothes for hours. There’s just so much there and honestly Gavin isn’t sure how he’s going to choose himself. He keeps giving the Vagabond something to try, and while he’s trying it on, the Lad has found something he’s even more in love with.

Somehow, he’s gotten them both into red pants and some rather plain t-shirts, which Gavin isn’t totally settled on. With all this variety, there’s gotta be something else he can do. He sprints to the Vagabond with a black leather jacket, pushing it towards him and smiling big, but the Vagabond just shakes his head.

“It would go perfect with this though! Pleaaaaase?”

The Vagabond signs that he already has a jacket. It’s not happening.

“But that’s been worn so many times! Don’t you want a fresh look?”

To this, the Vagabond takes a second, then tilts his head, seeming to think. Gavin perks up a bit, excited.

“What is it big guy? Idea?”

The Vagabond heads outside, back in his regular clothes again and his jacket over his arm. The store clerk looks exasperated, having been following the two around for several hours, hoping to make a sale, but instead the masked man and the brit just walk out without making any purchases. This confuses Gavin too, and he follows hopefully after the Vagabond, wanting to know more. Once they’re at the car, the Vagabond turns to him, looking thoughtful as he can with a sheet of plastic over his face. When the Vagabond finally explains, Gavin whispers the words aloud to himself to make sure he’s following.

“I do have an idea. I have to do this on my own, though. Can you find a pair of cheetah print pants, a black shirt, and a jacket to match the pants? We should match.”

Immediately, Gavin gasps, tucking up his shoulders and squeaking, absolutely thrilled.  _ He’s _ going to match with  _ their _ new  _ friend _ !!! He can hardly hold back his excitement. In fact, he doesn’t, responding right away.

“Of course I can! Don’t you worry one bit, I’m on the case!”

Gavin sprints back into Ponsonby’s, trusting the Vagabond in whatever he’s about to do. He has to be careful, selecting the perfect suit. It has to match, it has to be flexible, it has to be-

Oh god.

That one right there is so fucking glittery.

_ It’s perfect. _

Gavin hides his purchases when the Vagabond comes back to pick him up, noticing that the Vagabond does the same. Gavin is buzzing with the excitement that only shopping and an upcoming heist can give him. They get back to the penthouse in time, and the Vagabond heads into one of the bathrooms. Gavin heads into his own room, careful about what he’s chosen.

He doesn’t want everyone to think he’s trying to romance the Vagabond. That’s  _ ridiculous _ . He’s got four soulmates already and he’s sure the Vagabond will find who he’s meant to be with eventually.

To represent this, he’s tried to include everyone’s styles into his outfit. It’s a suit, for one, which shows his loyalty to Geoff the most. Though he’s closest to the Lads, he’ll never forget what Geoff did for him. Dark nights in the alleyways of a country he’d never been to were the worst, but Geoff… He was kind hearted enough to not take advantage of the young Gavin like others did. It was the sweetest  _ “Come with me, I’ll help you. _ ” that he’d ever heard.

His jacket was in more the style of Jeremy’s, and the two now had matching sunglasses. Gavin couldn’t help but grin as he was buttoning his shirt, remembering how Jeremy had managed to land his car  _ in the penthouse _ . What an entrance! It had taken eons to fix, but Gavin was happy it had happened. He still remembers yelling  _ “Are you bloody mental?”  _ like it was just a day or so ago.

Jack was easy. A floral print undershirt was a simple find, and absolutely horrendous with the rest of it. It was perfect. Gavin buttons it up as he reminisces, regretting his first question just a bit. “ _ Does your beard know who you are?” _ , which he’d followed with by commenting it was big enough to be sentient. Jack had shot back immediately with, “ _ No, but I’d know who you are a mile away with a nose like that.” _ Gavin glances down at that sick burn that circles his belly button, hidden under all his hair before he actually buttons his shirt.

Michael was always hard to match. He liked to look  _ cool _ , and he was good at it. Gavin was so much more flashy. He just wore the necklace him and his boi shared, tucked against his chest where it’d be safe. When Michael had come to join the crew, Gavin had been excited, to say the least. Someone else young like him! It would be a great addition. Oddly enough, they’d had an extremely normal meeting.  _ “You must be Gavin?”  _ and  _ “I’m pleased to meet you, Michael. _ ”

To top it all off, golden cheetah print to match the Vagabond. Gavin snaps his coat, grinning at himself in the mirror. He looks  _ sharp _ in this. After a quick adjustment to his bowtie, he heads out into the living room, a little bit of pep in his step.

“Oh, Gavin, come  _ on _ . What is  _ that _ ?”

Gavin laughs at Jeremy, trotting right up to him and plopping into his lap.

“It’s my fun new outfit for the heist! Just wait until you see Vagabond, he said he’d match me if I wore cheetah print.” Gavin is wiggling in pleasure, rumpling Jeremy’s crisp pants, but he doesn’t care about that now, his jaw dropping. Gavin turns his head to follow his gaze, and everyone is shocked by the Vagabond’s appearance.

Most of his outfit is black, of course, but his jacket has enormous, fluffy cheetah print fur lining the neck. While that’s fine and dandy, the Vagabond has also painted his face to be such an incredibly elaborate skull. It looks almost  _ real _ . His head seems to be floating above the furry neckline, and even more than that, god, his  _ eyes _ . He’s put in yellow contacts with a red rim, making him look like some sort of devil. Strands of black hair have slipped loose from his bun and frame his face, and…

Shit, he looks kinda hot like that.

Gavin does his best to mask the reaction he has to that, hopping up and making the flush in his cheeks seem to be from excitement.

“You look absolutely  _ top _ , Vagabond! Dear Christ you’re going to give everyone bloody heart attacks just from looking at them!”

The Vagabond signs that it’s kind of the point. Gavin giggles a bit, then poses, turning to the rest of them to make an announcement.

“Team Love ‘n Stuff! That’s what we are. I’m the love and he’s the stuff!”

The Vagabond snorts as if he’s offended, but Gavin sees him force down a smile. He knows the Vagabond is starting to like them more, and that’s everything he could have wanted. Gavin barrels on, insisting they just look tippy toppers together, making his sign for it and everything. The Vagabond makes the sign back at him and Gavin feels his heart swell with pride. He’s learning so fast!

Everyone else is dressed normally, at least, normal for them. Everyone takes this time to slip on their halfmasks, the skeletal jawbones hugging the curve of their jaws, shocking the Vagabond for a second. But… He was the one with the skull motif. These guys would never use such a stereotypical motif of wrong-doing. Gavin notices his shock, of course, and he explains.

“We wanted to make you feel more welcome. What says we’ve got the Vagabond on our side more than showing his influence? They’re pretty cool.”

The Vagabond just nods in response, and then Geoff goes over the mission one more time. They all remember, of course they do, but they appreciate the refresher. The crew splits to the winds, arriving at different times in different places. The decoy bags are placed at the back of the bank, to be taken to the front and ‘traded off’ with the distraction squad, as Geoff called them. Michael and the Vagabond are to meet at the bridge just outside of town, and hopefully lose the cops along the way. The bridge will be used as a bottleneck to help them escape if the cops keep on them. Michael can’t really communicate with the Vagabond, but it’s not like the Vagabond can talk anyway; not when he’s driving a motorcycle.

Jeremy’s on the roof. Jack is in the back, defending until it’s his time to go in. The Vagabond is with him, both keeping their eyes sharp. Michael, Gavin, and Geoff are parked in front, all having a moment to discuss together. Once everyone is on the comms and confirmed to be ready, Geoff grins.

“Alright boys, let’s do this!”

Infiltration runs into the bank, Gavin and Michael spreading out to the sides, guns held out and ready to shoot anyone. Geoff goes right up to the tellers, knows where the panic button is, and using a special kind of ammunition he breaks the bank glass. The still smoking barrel presses against the head of the teller, Geoff sounding commanding.

“Don’t make a mistake. After all, that glass was bulletproof. Just imagine what this gun would do to  _ you _ . We don’t wanna find out, do we?”

The teller softly shakes their head, and Michael takes over, yelling as he does and getting all the new hostages into the corner. Geoff and Gavin head back into the vault, stuffing the backpacks they’d brought with the biggest bills they could find. Geoff can’t help himself and takes a few of those prettier, shiny things. Both Gavin and Geoff tuck the backpacks under their suit jackets, hiding them well. They abandon the padding they had there before to keep them the same size. Everything is going well when they hear an explosion outside, followed by Jeremy’s voice on the comms.

“We got coppers! We need you out here, Mogar!”

“On it!”

When Michael busts out, he’s revealed his minigun. The whirring catches attention from the police, who scramble for cover from the new barrage of bullets. The trigger-happy pair of Vagabond and Mogar provide cover for the rest of them, Gavin and Geoff passing two tiny backpacks into the getaway car.

There’s a shout, and someone tosses a duffel bag to the Vagabond. He catches it and sprints off, getting onto his bike. Michael is incredibly quick swapping his minigun for the other stuffed duffel bag, getting onto his own bike and taking off. They go in totally different directions, but the cops stupidly follow after them. Plan G and Jumbo Shrimp are in their own cars, getting away with the entire payload. The cops send one or two cars after both of them, but everyone else follows the motorbikes.

What a mistake.

There’s gunshots and screeching tires over the comms, showing how the heist is going. If nothing else, the money is safe. That’s what’s really important. The chase has been going on forever, it feels like, when Michael starts talking.

“I'm almost to the bridge Vagabond- shit! They got my tire- fuck-”

The scrape of rims over the comms sends the safe teams into a panic.

Michael knows when to give it up. Everyone is yelling, trying to figure out what’s going on, but Michael just throws the duffel bag into the cops. He throws his hands up as he grinds his motorbike to a stop, just in time for the Vagabond to  _ jump off his fucking bike _ next to him.

Michael is still facing towards the cops, and he hisses to the Vagabond.

“Are you fucking crazy? What are you doing?”

The Vagabond just holds up his gun and fires off two shots, and then a third shot makes him stagger back, hitting the ground. Michael is yelling again, and he grabs onto the Vagabond, trying to hoist him up as the cops try to figure out who can go in there and get them both.

“Fuck- fuck Vagabond is down I repeat- fuck c’mon you creepy motherfucker, I'm not getting stuck here.”

In their getaway car, Geoff digs his fingers into his steering wheel, listening and spitting out words as quick as he can. Though the Vagabond was going to be an important member to their team, Michael is so important to them. They can’t lose him.

“Mogar! Mogar get  _ out _ of there if he's dead we- we have to come back for him!”

“But boss I- fuck!”

There’s an explosion, a quick scuffle, and then the sound of air. Of course, Michael is also screaming.

From Michael’s view, it’s this: the cops have spontaneously combusted, the Vagabond rose from the dead, tackled him, and now they’re in freefall. This isn’t exactly a little bridge, either. Michael glances back, and he’s starting to hyperventilate, knows there’s been too much excitement. The Vagabond unzips his jacket and tucks Michael close to his chest, and Michael  _ really _ didn’t think he’d spend his last moments cuddling the Vagabond. The Vagabond zips the jacket closed around Michael.

Michael is still trying to get his breathing under control when he sees a parachute open above them, jerking them to a near stop. Michael’s blood pressure is too high he- he hates jumping off things, hates not knowing the plan, he hates that he hardly knows the Vagabond and everything right now hinges on him. He bites his lip and tries to force himself to calm down, but the Vagabond glances down at him with those eyes and he can’t do it.

Michael passes out before they hit the water.

Geoff is whispering Michael’s name as a desperate prayer, hoping that if he says it enough that Michael will walk through the door at any second. If they’re in the water, the Vagabond definitely can’t talk to them, and everyone sits on the edge of their seats. Well, except for Jack. Jack has leaned back in the driver’s seat, knuckles white and jaw tight. He keeps listening for any sign that it’s all okay. All they have right now is the gentle lapping of water.

Jeremy and Gavin look on the brink of tears, but they don’t say anything. Just listen.

It’s been almost ten minutes.

There’s a gasp, a cough, and then the sound of a fist thudding against someone’s back. Someone begins hitting the mic, and Jack starts translating immediately. He speaks as he hears what’s being said, and he ends up relaying their position and status.

Everyone’s chests get lighter, half the worry gone.

It’s then the Vagabond asks if everyone else is okay.

“Are we okay? Fucking christ. Yeah, yeah we all got out fine. Do you think you can hold off there, or is medical attention needed? I can call in an extraction.”

Geoff is very proud that the only person who sees him shed a few relieved tears is Gavin.

It’s hours later that they actually find the cave the Vagabond has stashed them in. The team that they sent picks them up, taking them to the safehouse.

Michael sprints to Geoff as soon as he sees them, and Geoff picks him up, spinning him around before just standing there and kissing him hard. Geoff pulls away first, looking him over, then kisses Michael again, so happy to have him back. The rest of the crew all gathers around Michael, touching him all over as Michael laughs, reassuring them all that he’s fine.

Geoff spins around to thank the Vagabond only to find it’s as if he was never there.

\--

Once they get home, they begin their after heist routines. Jeremy heads out to the fights, Gavin gets higher than a kite, and this time, Michael chooses Geoff and Jack.

He’s always wired after heists. Once he knew it had all worked out, he needed a release. Sometimes, he’d go with Jeremy to the fights, and sometimes he’d smoke with Gavin. Maybe he’d go betting with Jack, or drinking with Geoff. But sometimes…

Sometimes he needed to be  _ torn apart. _

His skin is burning from how long he’d been in the water. He needs that carnal heat to get it out, to burn him from the inside out and rewrite who he is. Geoff and Jack can give that to him. They’ve known each other so long that they worked fluidly, and they could read Michael like no one else could.

They knew just what he needed.

They stretched him open, so impossibly open, stuffed him so full until there was no room for the memory of the day. The feeling of their hot breath on his neck as he satisfied them both and was reassured that he was so, so safe was everything he could have wanted.

It feels like hours later again when they’ve finally finished. Dark marks bloom on their shoulders and necks, born from the passion of a supernova. Michael finds himself awake between Geoff and Jack, staring at the designs on Geoff’s chest and following the shapes with his eyes as he lets the thoughts slowly trickle back in.

The Vagabond saved his life today.

Now that he’d had more time to think about it, he could remember all the details of what was happening around them. He knew better what had happened, having had the confusion fucked out of him. Michael bites his lip, and immediately, Geoff’s thumb sweeps it out from between his teeth, guiding him up into a kiss.

“No more thinking, love. Sleep. We’ll talk about it all in the morning.”

\--

They don’t see the Vagabond until they call him back, to split the cash. He’s wearing a longsleeve shirt and sweatpants, limping in with his mask still tight to his face. Everyone knew this was coming, but seeing him so casual is a bit of a surprise. What catches their attention next, though, is the brace around his ankle. The Vagabond limps all the way in, only stopping when Gavin questions him.

“Wot is  _ that _ ?”

The Vagabond looks down at his brace like it being there surprises him, and he signs that he sprained it a little saving Michael. Geoff looks the Vagabond over, taking in the look, then he speaks almost seriously.

“I think it’s time we all got debriefed.”

They all head to the planning room, where the Vagabond immediately sits down. Michael settles down next to him, feeling a bit safer with him. The rest of them stand and wait for an explanation. Michael speaks, having had time to think about it and realize everything that happened in more detail.

“So, we were on the bridge, and I'd tossed my duffel bag, hoping it would make them pause for a second. They were all creeping up on me, about to cuff me when Vagabond here comes crashing his bike through a bunch of cops. He started waving for me to move back, and he must have tossed his duffel bag too, I don't remember, but he went to start shooting, and fuck man, I thought he was dead. He dropped to the pavement like a rock. That was all the cops needed, was him out of the way, but then- holy fuck guys I've never been so close, he fucking detonates one of the duffel bags. All the cops scatter and this guy pops up, charging full tilt at me and launching us both over the side of the bridge.”

Jeremy starts to interrupt, but Michael’s hand and Geoff’s eyes shut him down immediately.

“So I'm in freefall, thinking I'm gonna splat on the water when Vagabond is grabbing me. He zips me up in his fucking jacket with him and I'm thinking he's insane, but then he pulls a string and a fucking  _ parachute _ comes out of his jacket. It slowed us enough that when we landed in the water it wasn't too bad, and he got the jacket off of us. I don't remember much after I hit the water, but Vagabond probably dragged me to shore to make sure I was still breathing. You guys know everything else, I guess. Anything to add?”

The Vagabond shakes his head, but he does sign with Gavin translating.

“He says, ‘That about sums it up. Once we were in the air I blew the second duffel to keep them off us’.”

Immediately, Geoff steps forward, his voice cracking just a bit. His eyes are glittering with every emotion. While the Vagabond hides emotions to intimidate, there’s something horrifying about a man who isn’t afraid to bear everything at its surface. To embrace emotion; it’s harder than holding it all back.

“You saved his life. I was sitting in that damn car feeling powerless, and you saved his life. You barely know us, but fuck dude, we are all in your debt. I feel like I should give you a raise and we  _ just _ hired you.”

The Vagabond just shrugs, saying that they’re his crew now. He wasn’t going to leave Michael behind.

The Vagabond doesn’t mean to, but he catches Michael’s eyes. Michael whispers the softest ‘thank you’, meaning it so incredibly sincerely. The Vagabond nods in return, and then Geoff continues. He just tells them that their getaway was pretty straightforward, just some standard driving maneuvers. He compliments the Vagabond’s use of the explosives, but it seems as though the praise embarrasses him. He keeps looking at the table instead of Geoff, despite the fact he normally seems to love excessive eye contact. Geoff decides that maybe he shouldn’t go with compliments, and just tries to give the Vagabond the facts.

“As part of the crew, you uh, have to live here. We have a room that's pretty far from ours so you can have privacy, but we'd like it if you'd stay here.”

Of course, this breaks him right out of his shy spell, because the Vagabond just stares directly into Geoff’s eyes for a very, very long time. Just as Geoff begins to wonder if he should take it back, the Vagabond raises his hands and makes a joke, which Jack translates.

“You haven’t even proposed yet, Geoff. How scandalous.”

This causes Jack to chuckle a bit, but Geoff stutters, his cheeks flushing up. He points a stern finger at Ryan, trying to force his blush down as well.

“You know that's not what we mean Vagabond! Good Christ, is this how it's going to be?”

The Vagabond stands, his shoulders shaking in his amusement, and he goes to leave. Everyone is watching him, but when no one follows, he looks at them curiously. He raises his hands, asking if they’re going to help him move his stuff. He’s kinda been living in his car for a few days and would like to move in immediately.

The Lads jump to it, loving to have the chance to help. They take two trips to get everything between the four of them, despite the fact there’s not much there. The Vagabond hides in his room while the rest of them begin settling down from the conversation and yesterday’s action. The Lads start up a game of Mario Party, with Jack as a fourth player, but Jack seems wholly uninterested. They don’t mind. He’s basically a free star bank. At some point, though, Gavin completely fucks Michael, ruining his score and winning the game by total bullshit, when Michael should have won. Stupid fucking  _ bonus stars _ .

Gavin is trumpeting his victory when Michael knocks him down, yelling as he gets into a scuffle with his boi. They’re shouting and really going at it, but Jeremy just makes a weak excuse that he thinks they have some Caprisun, escaping to the kitchen to look for it. Jack finally gets to read the book he wanted. Geoff wonders where the nearest church is that he could start attending.

The Vagabond comes out of his room to look at the mess. He kind of waddles over due to his ankle brace, then just stands over them. Michael stops, having a newfound respect for the Vagabond, but Gavin doesn’t, struggling to throw Michael off. Michael lets Gavin move him, but as Gavin is starting to attack Michael again, the Vagabond places a hand on his head. It’s the first time the Vagabond has touched one of them without desperately needing too, and Gavin just goes still.

Geoff looks like he could weep with joy, and gestures for the Vagabond to enjoy the couch with him. The Vagabond decides he shall, and he throws himself down, relaxing into the couch. He props his bad ankle up on the table, causing Geoff’s mood to turn immediately. He swats the Vagabond’s leg with his newspaper, frowning hard.

“No feet on the table, you  _ animal _ .”

The Vagabond gestures to his busted joint.

“What, you want special permission? What example will that set for the  _ children _ ?”

“Geoff, we’re adults!”

Says the two who were literally just fighting over losing a video game, and the one who’s just sitting on the floor, sipping Caprisun.

“Stop babying us. We  _ could _ take care of ourselves.”

Geoff just groans and buries himself back into his newspaper, not wanting to have to deal with this. The Vagabond takes this as a win and doesn’t put his foot down, instead resting his head back and trying to stop thinking about anything.

Jeremy sees that the Vagabond appears to fall asleep, so he scoots in, sitting beside the Vagabond, close enough to feel his warmth. He waits a long, long time, but once he’s sure that the Vagabond is asleep, he lets his head rest against his knee, playing the game near silently.

\--

Geoff and Jack just want to relax, but these goddamn kids. They keep doing loud things, so the Gents head out, wanting to go out together. As they’re in the elevator, heading to the garage, Jack speaks up.

“So, wanna go play pool in some sleazeball bar?”

Geoff grins, tossing his wallet up, snatching it up again and admiring how fat it is.

“Only if you bet on it.”

\--

They’re hungry again.

“Gavin! Don’t pour the soup like that it gets  _ everywhere _ ! I’m going to have to clean that, you fuck!”

“It’s okay Michael boi! We don’t need to worry about it. Work on your sandwiches love.”

“Yeah, yeah- hey, Jeremy! Shit, don’t get our cheeses mixed up. Geoff’s already got me on my no-dairy diet, lactose intolerance my  _ ass _ , I’m just hungry.”

Honestly, who even left Gavin alone with the soup? Sure, he was stirring it, but Michael was about 75% sure he hadn’t put any extra anything in there with it.

All three of them jump when they see the Vagabond standing there, just staring at them. All three of them also elect not to mention his hair is a fucking mess from little movements on a couch like that. Jeremy is nervous, but he speaks first, knowing he probably seems the least guilty.

“Uh, hey buddy. Sorry if we woke you, Geoff and Jack went out on an old person date and we got hungry.”

The Vagabond stares at them a moment longer, then pushes them out of the kitchen. Hopefully he notices that Michael has a different cheese he uses, due to his allergy. They all sit at the island, chatting amongst themselves and trying to figure out what the Vagabond is doing.

“He really likes cooking, doesn’t he?”

Gavin has noticed he takes over cooking every time, even if he doesn’t need to. They’re not absolute disasters. Michael and Jeremy are pretty damn good cooks, but they just… have specialties. Jeremy is more of a baker, and Michael can pretty much only grill and make coffee. None of those are soup or gourmet grilled cheese.

The Vagabond comes to the table, giving them their tomato soup and grilled cheese. Michael is thrilled when he sees there  _ are _ sandwiches with just his cheese on them, and he goes to town on them. Fuck, they all do. All of them are so happy to enjoy and eat as the Vagabond starts washing dishes.

The Vagabond is just standing there staring at the dishes when Gavin cleans up, coming up and setting more dishes into the sink. He bumps their hips together, getting the Vagabond out of his mind and into reality again.

“I’ll dry if you wash, yeah?”

The Vagabond seems to go stiff, but he eventually nods, getting back to washing. Gavin glances at the planes of the Vagabond’s face, from what he can see. He’s got a strong jaw, but the tendons in his neck are taught, an obvious sign that he’s upset. Gavin knows that the Vagabond tries to be mysterious, but he wants to get in there. He wants to get to know him. There’s a new cute boy in the house, and though Gavin does have a lot of love to give, this isn’t about that. He wants to know why the Vagabond doesn’t speak, why he seems so jovial with all the stuff he’s done, why it’s hard for him to take a compliment...

Gavin wants to know it all.

He knows some things already. The Vagabond certainly has a name, even if they don’t know it yet. They could find out, but it’s nicer to wait and hope the Vagabond actually wants to let them know. It’d peel back the first layer to a depth of the Vagabond he doesn’t think anyone knows. Gavin knows that they _ work _ together. The Vagabond has an easy rapport with Geoff, a sort of silent camaraderie with Jack, some kind of magnitude with Gavin, an awed respect with Jeremy, and fuck, he saved Michael for no reward. If he hadn’t, they would have had to just take Michael out of jail. Instead… Instead he was safe. Here with them. Gavin knows they fit together, but he just. He hadn’t realized there was something missing until something so perfect slipped into that hole. Gavin glances at the Vagabond again, only to see the Vagabond looking back at him. They’ve finished the dishes, and he supposes it is strange for them to continue to stand here. Gavin just masks his thoughts with a big smile, making the Vagabond ask him what he’s thinking of. It isn’t a lie, but it almost feels like one when he speaks it.

“Movie night tonight since the Gents are gone. Well, I suppose you're a Gent now too, but anywho. We're going to drag a mattress out and make a big fort. I was- well, all of us, we were wondering if you'd join us.”

He’s not the silver-tongued Golden Boy of the FAKE for nothing.

The Vagabond seems incredulous when he asks Gavin if the Lads want  _ him _ , the Vagabond, to watch  _ movies _ with them?

Gavin snorts as he responds. “Well yeah. You're a part of our crew now, and it's kinda like bonding, innit?”

The Vagabond sighs, then asks what they’re watching.

Gavin is thrilled to tell him that they’re going to watch shitty sci-fi movies.

He’s in.

The other Lads have built the fort while Gavin and the Vagabond were busy being adults, and they’ve even booted up the movie. The Vagabond takes a spot right in the middle of the mattress, kicking his injured ankle up on top of a pillow, wanting to get it to heal faster under any circumstance. Gavin hopes he realizes that means he’s also the center of attention. Jeremy and Michael cuddle on one side, knowing that Gavin will want to hang out with the Vagabond. Gavin sits close to the Vagabond, loving his soft, breathless laughs during the movie. Michael and Jeremy make the perfect commentary, and Gavin even pitches in sometimes.

After the first movie, the Vagabond gets up and makes them a shitload of popcorn. Once he’s stuffed the Lads full of salt and butter, they seem to finally settle down some, just kind of enjoying and poking fun at the next movie instead of basically talking over it.

The Vagabond started playing Sharknado 3, but the Lads don’t care anymore after a point. Gavin is the first to fall asleep, his head tipping carefully onto the Vagabond’s shoulder. The Vagabond glances over to see that Michael and Jeremy have been asleep for a while. Jeremy is actually spooning Michael, which is awesome, because while Jeremy isn’t that small, Michael’s torso is just so much longer than his. Jeremy has his nose tucked into Michael’s spine, arms tight around Michael’s middle.

The Vagabond surprises himself by laying down and letting Gavin cuddle his arm, after tucking everyone in. Michael nuzzles into the Vagabond at first, but when Jack and Geoff crawl in during the early hours of the morning, they see Michael with his back pressed to the Vagabond’s side. Gavin has really burrowed in there, as he does, and the Vagabond’s arm is actually wrapped around him. Jeremy is only half on the mattress.

Geoff snaps a picture, even though Jack protests.

Serves that motherfucker right for putting his nasty broken foot on Geoff’s nice coffee table.

\--

Jeremy wakes that morning around 4 am. He barely peeks his eyes open, just aware he needs to pee. He shoves Michael over so that he can get up, making his way to the bathroom. The door is closed and the light is on. Like any reasonable person, Jeremy waits his turn out in the hallway. The Vagabond opens the door and nearly jumps a foot in the air when Jeremy is just standing there. Jeremy’s eyes are too closed to see him, fortunately, and he just mumbles a good morning before stumbling past him into the bathroom.

Once he’s actually using the bathroom, he’s suddenly wide awake in shock.

Was… was the Vagabond even wearing his mask just then?

Jeremy shakes his head, flushing and washing his hands. There’s no way. He dries his hands off, thinking it over. While his eyes had been closed, he couldn’t be sure… but the Vagabond would never be caught offguard. He’s a legend!

Jeremy decides that he was probably definitely maybe wearing his mask and heads to back to bed.

\--

It’s been hours, and Jack is a bit concerned.

Vagabond or not, everyone likes a cup of coffee, right? He’d seen the Vagabond and Geoff drinking coffee on the couch the other day, so he probably likes it. Jack brings it over, along with his own cup and a plate of food, and he knocks on the door. The Vagabond opens the door a few seconds later, seeming curious. Jack holds up the coffee, but he smiles disarmingly.

“Hey there stranger. Do you mind if I come in?”

The Vagabond stares for a moment, then steps aside. Jack walks in, setting down the vittles on the nightstand. He notices that the Vagabond’s computer is on, and he turns, wanting to try signing along to his words. 

“So, I didn’t know how you took your coffee, so it’s just black. Geoff made french toast and omelets, so we just gave you some of everything.”

The Vagabond thanks him. 

“Not a problem bud. What are you working on?”

The Vagabond starts off his sentence kind of weird, saying Ryan, then telling Jack he’s working on a hacking job for a local company. It takes Jack a few dull seconds before he realizes that’s the Vagabond’s name. Before Jack manages to respond, the Vagabond continues on, telling him that he can tell everyone else as well. Everyone’s been trying to make him feel welcome, and he’d like to extend an olive branch in return.

Jack seems extremely relaxed now, smiling at the Vagabond and nodding. He has business to go take care of, but this new knowledge is a great way to start the day. He takes a sip of his coffee before taking a step towards the door. 

“Well, if you ever need any help with coding, Gavin actually knows quite a bit. He’s usually behind scenes working tech, but this last time we needed the hands.”

The Vagabond- shit, not again, his name is  _ Ryan _ \- Ryan nods, acknowledging what Jack has said, and then Jack leaves the room. 

He heads out into the living room and raises a hand, catching everyone’s attention. When Jeremy keeps trying to cram the entire fucking omelet into his mouth, Jack also clears his throat. With everyone’s attention on him, he makes his announcement. 

“The Vagabond has told me that we should call him Ryan from now on.”

The whole crew seems shocked, but Gavin gets a thrill, so excited that they know more about him. He whispers the name, feeling it on his tongue and oh, it’s a good name. He likes this.

\--

A few hours pass and Gavin is desperate to try out Ryan’s name. He’s so excited to know it, and he just  _ has _ to use it. He heads over to Ryan’s room, excited to try and do something, anything, to say that name now. He gets one knock on the door when it’s flying open. 

Ryan’s not wearing his mask. 

Okay, he’s got facepaint on, but Gavin hardly has time to register that before his arms are full of dishes and the door is slammed in his face. Immediately his heart drops, but he hears Ryan scrambling, probably to find his mask. He tries to cover up his disappointment at the treatment as the door creeks open almost shyly, Ryan looking out again. Ryan is very slow when he signs, obviously a bit shaken. He asks if Gavin wants to come in, and Gavin manages to get a smile on. 

“That would be top! I can go put these dishes away, if you wanna hide all your porn mags.”

Ryan tells Gavin that he’ll leave the door open, and Gavin walks off to do as he promised. He places the dishes in the sink, then takes in a deep breath, calming himself down. Ryan was just shocked that he’d answered the door without his mask on. It wasn’t distrust, and it wasn’t that he hated Gavin. When Gavin comes back to Ryan’s room, he’s just… standing there. Gavin reaches forward and ignores the way his gut is clenching, touching Ryan’s arm lightly. Ryan jumps like a startled wildcat, and Gavin takes his arm back, failing to hide his concern. 

“Are you okay Ryan?”

Ryan gets startled again, looking like he’s on the edge of panic. Gavin has no idea what he could have done so wrong. He forces himself not to cry, turning away so that he can go shut the door. He gently gets Ryan to sit down, but then he stands there, unsure of what to do. Gavin slowly sits down beside Ryan and begins to rub his back, knowing that always helps to calm him down. Ryan slowly leans, resting his face into Gavin’s hair and sighing heavily. Gavin doesn’t notice his own fingers trembling. Gavin supposes that now it’s been long enough he should say something, but he isn’t sure quite what to say, so he just starts blubbering until it makes sense. 

“When I realized you didn’t have you mask on I looked at your forehead. It might seem like I’m lying but I- I won’t lie to you. That could be a lie but that wouldn’t really be a good thing and- oh I buggered it didn’t I? Look, I-”

Ryan covers up Gavin’s mouth, holding him until he quiets down. Gavin feels himself relaxing, giving in to how natural it is to cuddle up to Ryan like this. After a few seconds, he can’t do it, pushing himself upright and pulling a bit away. Ryan looks at him and- fuck, his eyes are so vulnerable. How often did he get held? When was the last time he’d let someone even get this close to him? Gavin knows that he’s already in a relationship with four perfect boyfriends, but- 

He just really feels like Ryan fits in with them here. 

Ryan gets up, having realized that Gavin doesn’t want to cuddle him anymore(he does) and heading over to his computer desk. Ryan settles down and turns, pointing at the screen and waiting for Gavin to come over. Gavin is curious as to what Ryan could be doing, but he sees the code and quickly checks it over on instinct.

“What? You’re missing a colon there, and the phrase is fragmented by this.”

Ryan fixes things as Gavin points them out, and then when he test-runs it, the program flows perfectly. Ryan looks like he might start crying, and Gavin realizes something, giggling and all that anxiety from earlier melting away. 

“Is that why you were so flustered when you opened the door? Why didn’t you come get me sooner silly?”

Ryan tells Gavin that he was trying to get it on his own, but Gavin knows it was just pride. It’s hard for people to admit when they need help. 

“Two minds are greater than one, yeah? This kinda stuff is kinda the biggest thing I do here, so lemme help once in awhile?”

Ryan stares Gavin down, but Gavin doesn’t go down. He just smiles and enjoys being here with Ryan. He’s learned that Ryan likes to stare, and it doesn’t bother him. Did it ever? He can’t be sure. Gavin knows that he likes to be here with Ryan, and he gives his friend a smile.

All of this happens in Ryan’s first fortnight with the crew. From stranger to Vagabond to Ryan, he’s gotten closer to them. In the following months, he gets closer and closer to these men. Everyone likes to have one on one time with one another, but when they start including Ryan in one on one time, it surprises him. 

Gavin is the one to bring it up to the crew, of course. 

“Loves, could we… Would it be crude for me to call a meeting about our dear Ryan?” 

Geoff had sent him out earlier that morning, knowing Ryan was itching for some action, but their heist wasn’t for a while. Everyone agrees, and they head into the planning room, curious about what Gavin has to say. 

Gavin ends up at the head of the table, and it’s a lot of power to have. He looks at them all, taking in all of their faces and loving each one, but… his heart has so much room.

“I wanted to know if anyone else really feels like Ryan fits in with us. Not- not so much as ‘one of the guys’ or even just being a Gent because he’s older, but I mean- He just- He belongs with us, y’know? He never talks about his soulmate and I know it’s horrid to take someone away from their soulmate but- I think he likes us. A lot. And if I’m being honest, I’m rather fond of him too.” Gavin loses his train of thought, unable to say anything else. He’s already afraid everyone’s going to get mad at him.

As it is, they all seem shocked that he brought it up. Before Geoff or Jack can say anything, Jeremy pops his mouth open, eager to respond. 

“I, uh, kind of feel the same way? He just fits in with us really well. Whenever I need it, he’ll drop everything to take me out on a drive. It’s… weird, but he’ll do it. I never thought about it too hard until now.” 

Gavin is happy that Jeremy agrees, and he looks to his other Lad, hoping for more. Michael stares at the table, arms crossed and silent. His jaw is tense and Gavin falters, but Jack speaks next. 

“I’ve spent a lot of time with him too. Ryan is really just as silly as any Lad. He’ll go anywhere with anyone if we ask him to. He’s very agreeable, and a good fit, but he’s not a pushover. He’s a damn good man, and I’m glad to have him on our side.”

Gavin likes that, but Geoff and Michael haven’t spoken yet. Neither of them look like they even want to. Gavin bites his lip, then goes again.

“We- we don’t have to be sure, as a group. I just want to know if I can try. Even if I’m not meant to be with him forever, I want to give him the love he deserves. You all know I still love you too. I just-”

“You’ve got a lot of love to give.” Geoff interrupts, and Gavin stops short. He’s eager for their leader to give him some sort of direction. “You’ve always had so much love to give. You’ve got all of us, and you’ll never be satisfied, will you?”

Gavin shrinks back, unsure how to take the words. Jack and Jeremy seem surprised by how cold Geoff seems, but he just shakes his head and smirks at Gavin.

“I know we can’t hold you back. If you want to flirt with Ryan, you can. Anyone can. We all have permission to flirt with Ryan if you want. I’m not going to. If you can deal with the heartbreak of him finding his soulmate, be my guest. I just want you to be happy, Gav.” 

Gavin feels tears well in his eyes, and he jumps forward, squeezing Geoff hard in a hug. Jack and Jeremy have already said that they feel the same towards Ryan. It might not be as much as Gavin, but it’s there. Gavin kisses Geoff hard enough to stun him for a moment, looking up to Michael now.

“Boi?”

“Yeah. You can do what you want Gavvy. If you want to try to get him, you can try. If you want him to be yours, then he can be yours. But  _ you _ .” Michael stands up, stalking towards Gavin and making him back away from Geoff. 

“ _ You _ are  _ mine  _ tonight. See if I can’t get those starstruck eyes back where they belong.” 

It’s permission enough for Gavin, and in fact, more than enough incentive. If the thought of him getting with Ryan riles up Michael  _ this bad _ , then he’s definitely interested.

\--

When had Ryan started walking around without his mask? They’d never know. Everyone remembered the moment they saw his face, but seeing Ryan without his mask was so commonplace now that they didn’t think twice. They’d had their conversation, laid out their ground rules in more detail, but no one had seriously gone after Ryan yet. Yeah, they’d all been flirting(the ones who wanted to), but Ryan was incredibly thick. 

Desperate times came to desperate measures. 

The Lads burst into the living room, slowly followed by the Original Gents. Jeremy waves to Ryan, who’s cleaning up. Man, he really was practically their housekeeper.

“C’mon Rye! We’re going to the club! Can’t say no!”

To this, Ryan shakes his head and continues to clean up. He’s picking up tiny little circles of paper from The Hole-Puncher Incident using his hands. There’s no way he needs to do it like that. Michael and Gavin whine, and Ryan just sighs. Gavin gets an idea that might convince Ryan, and he sneaks forward.

“We’ll buy you diet cooooooke.”

It works. 

Ryan is jammed into the backseat with Gavin and Jeremy, everyone else in the front. They all get out in front of an incredibly flashy club, lights and colors everywhere. Ryan blinks at everything, but the Lads aren’t going to let him just stand there and be stunned by the lights. He’s dragged inside, and he experiences firsthand the element of the Lads. 

There’s a sweltering weight of sweat and heat from the lights and dancers, cologne and perfume clogging up what’s left of the clean air. Alcohol runs thick in a club like this, the bartender a bit heavy handed.

The Crew slides into their booth in the back, Ryan letting himself get jammed into the corner. True to their word, they do get him endless Diet Coke with increasingly difficult straws. Michael and Jeremy match each other shot for shot, and Gavin just sips his drink, watching them all closely. A song comes on that catches Gavin’s attention, and he grabs Michael from across the booth, grinning as he drags his boi to the dancefloor. Ryan watches them go, and he’s surprised when the man next to him is leaving the booth as well. Jeremy turns around, double surprising him by pulling him up. Ryan shakes his head, nervous. Jeremy gives him that puppy dog stare and it’s all Ryan can do to say no again. He decides he can go dance, just this once, and he lets Jeremy lead him to a good spot. 

Jeremy knows he’s a good dancer. He lets Ryan get into the beat, just dances silly with him until Ryan is loose enough to at least bounce along. Jeremy grins, and it’s now that he begins to seriously dance. Jeremy leads Ryan as best he can in the crowd, really wanting to dance with him. He guides by touch, just glancing fingertips off his hips, chest, waist, anywhere he can reach to get Ryan to move. When Ryan really is moving with him, Jeremy begins Phase 2: Dirty Dancing.

Jeremy is a grounded dancer. He’s not as fluid as Gavin, and he’s not as dependant as Michael. Jeremy slides in close, powerful movements with that hiphop influence making it seem as though his body controls the music. The reason that the beat of the club matters at all is because Jeremy is so incredibly close to Ryan that they can feel each other’s heartbeats. So close that neither of them want to pull away. Ryan can only handle so much though, and he tires easily, heading back to the table. Jeremy grins, happy that Ryan tried, and he goes to get drinks before dancing again. Ryan is panting hard, so totally worn out for now, but he’s thrilled. That was… it was really fun.

His eyes are drawn by Gavin, and it’s surprising what he sees. Gavin is leading Michael on, that much is obvious. Every motion flows directly into the next, Gavin so incredibly liquid that Michael just can’t catch him. Michael’s pupils are totally blown, and though he dances with Gavin, whenever he tries to grab him, Gavin manages to get away. 

Gavin takes one glance at Ryan, sees how tired he is, sees the sweat on Jeremy’s skin, and he can’t help but laugh just a bit. 

There’s no way he isn’t hard right now. The Lads come back after what seems like forever, but it’s been just enough time for them to leave. Ryan, of course, ends up being the designated driver, but he feels as though that’s not why he came along tonight. 

When Ryan glances in the rearview mirror, he sees Gavin whispering to his lads, the two intoxicated boys hanging onto his every word. He orchestrates them so well, it’s almost concerning. 

At the penthouse, everyone heads upstairs except Ryan. Gavin’s the only one who notices he doesn’t follow, and it gives him an idea.

“Jeremy, love, go wait in the bedroom, would you? I’ve been teasing Michael all night and if he waits another second he might have a fit.”

Jeremy nods dreamily, knowing that it’s also an order for him to get stripped down and comfortable for them. 

Gavin tugs Michael by his shirt collar, stopping near the hallway and turning suddenly, eyes burning into Michael. Michael is just barely holding himself back, but he craves the order he knows Gavin is going to give him. 

“Bite me.”

Immediately, Michael surges towards Gavin, biting hard onto Gavin’s neck. Gavin gasps high, can feel Michael’s fingers twisting into his shirt when a light shines on them from the elevator. 

Ryan doesn’t see the way that Gavin’s eyes follow him as he almost runs past. 

\--

Ryan spends almost the entire next day in his room, and no one bothers him. 

It’s a merciful break from the onslaught the Lads brought onto him.

\--

Two days after what happened at the club, Ryan sits at the table, eating his omelet. He notices Gavin looking at him, and he glances up. Gavin stares into his eyes, something dark and wanting as he takes a bite of his apple. Ryan’s eyes flick to his lips, and though Ryan obviously wants to, he doesn’t look away. Gavin takes another bite, tearing his gaze from Ryan and tilting his head just slightly, making Ryan look down, following the curve of his throat. 

His shirt is cut so low. 

It shows every single mark that Michael and Jeremy left on him the other night. 

One of the marks is half hidden beneath the low collar, hinting to even more. 

Ryan stands suddenly and takes his dishes to the kitchen. Just as he’s about done, more dishes slip into the sink, and Gavin brushes up against his side. Gavin hums softly, just a little noise to make sure Ryan’s attention is on him. 

Ryan snaps the plate in his hand.

Gavin slips off to the living room, and Jack, who’s at the toaster nearby, chuckles.

“You don’t know your own strength, do you Ryan?”

Jack has  _ no _ idea.

Once Ryan is finished cleaning up, he heads into the living room, only to see Gavin sprawled out on the couch. Michael is in between his legs, playing a game, and with every click of a button the soft shuffle of Michael’s arms makes Gavin’s shorts slip further up, thread by tantalizing thread.

Geoff notices Ryan, and he waves, offering him a spot on the couch. Ryan just turns around and hurries off to his room, making Geoff seem oddly crestfallen.

“What’s up with him?”

Gavin shrugs, but he seems incredibly pleased with himself. 

His plan is going just perfectly. 

Gavin just messes around on his phone for a while, waiting until he gets his notification. From what he knows of Ryan, he’s going to try to lose his frustrations in his coding. Gavin also knows that Ryan has taken on a project too big for him. He’s taken the liberty of writing it for him, but making it so that Ryan  _ has _ to run Gavin’s file. Otherwise, none of his other files will work. It forces Gavin to be at the forefront of his brain.

Oh! A text. Gavin opens the text, grinning when he sees who it’s from. Why, some wonderful program named after Gavin himself. What’s that, program? Someone ran you and now he’s got Gavin racing through his mind, making this the perfect and most opportune time to bother Ryan?

You don’t say.

Gavin pops right on up, heading to Ryan’s room. He knocks on the door, smiling wide and waiting. As soon as the door opens, Gavin tucks his foot between the frame and the door itself. He doesn’t say anything, but he knows Ryan doesn’t have the heart to smash Gavin’s foot. It’d be easy, but he’s soft for Gavin, and Gavin knows it. 

Eventually, Ryan steps back and lets Gavin in. Gavin glances at the computer, letting his smile stay as he notes all of Ryan’s work is done.

“Finally ran my program did you?”

Gavin takes a few more steps forward, gently pressing his palm onto Ryan’s chest. 

“What’s wrong? You seemed stressed out earlier. Did you wanna do something to relax?”

Ryan stares at Gavin, and the Lad can see his gears turning. He knows that Ryan needs to take a moment to think, and once he’s had it, Ryan nods. Gavin takes a step forward, but Ryan pushes him back and back and back until he’s against the desk. Ryan stares at Gavin intensely, and for the first time, Gavin shivers. Slowly, oh so slowly, Ryan sinks down to his knees, never breaking eye contact. Gavin pets through Ryan’s hair, trying to mask how incredibly hot Ryan looks there with words.

“Look at you, love. Down on your knees already, without even needing to be told.”

Ryan leans into his touches, seems to appreciate the words despite what they might imply. 

Interesting. 

Gavin pets down the side of Ryan’s face, sliding his thumb over Ryan’s lower lip. Ryan flicks his tongue out, gingerly licking Gavin’s finger. Curiously, Gavin pushes his thumb further into Ryan’s mouth, causing him to suck on it almost automatically. 

“You like having things in your mouth, don’t you?”

Ryan nods, and Gavin loves it. He tugs his thumb out of Ryan’s mouth, spreading the wetness across his lips and getting serious. 

“You’re sure you’re okay with this?”

A second passes, and then Ryan nods. He puts his hands onto Gavin’s thighs, making his breath hitch, only for Ryan to lean forward and tug his fly open only using his mouth. God, if that wasn’t hot he didn’t know what was. Gavin moves his hand back into Ryan’s hair, petting him softly and excited. 

“Oh, Ryan. You’re so talented with that mouth of yours. Show me more, love.”

Ryan blushes a bit, but he just reaches up again to grab the waistband of Gavin’s boxers. Using his hands too, he pulls Gavin’s pants down. It never occurred to him before, and Ryan seems surprised when he sees Gavin isn’t circumcised. It’s incredibly enticing, and he licks his lips. His mouth is already starting to water. Gavin smiles, and he pets the back of Ryan’s neck. 

Ryan doesn’t need much more encouragement than that. He leans forward, gently licking the tip. The taste hits him hard. He hasn’t done this in eons, it feels like, but he craves it more than he thought he would. Ryan gets lost just licking for a second, making Gavin gasp and squirm for a moment. 

“Ryan you’re absolutely  _ lovely _ and you’ve hardly done anything. You’re doing a perfect job. Oh, you’re so good.” 

Ryan’s cheeks flush heavily.

So that’s a thing. 

Gavin definitely notices how red Ryan’s face gets. It’s rather intriguing. He would think more on it, but he’s distracted by Ryan licking down the length of his cock. Gods, his tongue is so wet and hot. Gavin leans back, his shoulders pressing into the wall as he looks down at Ryan. One of his hands come up and he slowly pumps what doesn’t fit in his mouth yet. 

Speaking of, his mouth is now slowly being filled with Gavin’s cock. 

Gavin moans hotly, tossing his head back as Ryan works more and more into him. He gets a solid mouthful and pulls back, panting for a moment. Alright, so it had been a while. They’re both desperate for it though, and Ryan plunges down again, needing more  _ now _ .

“Lovely Ryan, oh, my perfect, wonderful Ryan, that’s- oh,  _ just _ like that!”

Gavin is certainly enjoying Ryan’s mouth as he starts complimenting the motions of his head with his hand and tongue. He pushes his tongue in past Gavin’s foreskin, stretching it softly and getting to Gavin’s sensitive head.

The sound Gavin makes is so sinful that Ryan can feel his cock throb in response. He shoves down one of his hands, grinding the heel of his palm into his crotch to calm himself down for a second. He wants to focus on Gavin right now, and those wonderful things Gavin is calling him. 

Ryan keeps playing with Gavin’s foreskin and the soft head of his cock. Gavin’s thighs are twitching up a storm, and he can hardly say anything after a point. Ryan’s hand moves quickly across Gavin’s flesh. He thinks for a second, tests, and then suddenly Ryan is burying Gavin’s cock inside of his throat. 

“Oh  _ fuck _ Ryan! Your throat- you’re so tight, oh, oh-!” 

Ryan knows he’s doing well, and Gavin is going to lose his mind. Whatever Ryan is doing is so perfect, and Gavin isn’t afraid to let him know. Gavin tugs on Ryan’s hair, panting hard and curling forward now. God, Ryan feels  _ so good _ . Gavin is nearly drooling, but he maintains control over himself even as Ryan’s throat squeezes around his sensitive cockhead. Gavin knows he’s not going to last much longer at this rate, and he can barely gasp out to Ryan that he’s about to cum before it’s happening. 

Ryan swallows Gavin’s entire cock, and continues to swallow it until Gavin is weakly pushing him off, totally milked dry. He’s panting, fuck, they both are, and he pulls Ryan up, kissing him roughly. It’s not chaste like most first kisses are. Gavin tries to consume Ryan, wanting them to be one person in that moment, tugging Ryan closer until he can’t possibly hope to get any away. 

Minutes pass before they stop. Gavin is panting, his own taste on his tongue, but he doesn’t care. His hair is curling now, the gel having been sweat off, and he pants as he tells Ryan what he wants.

“You’ve been so good for me. My perfect Ryan. I need to let you know how good you’ve been. I want to make you feel as good as you made me feel. Sit by the top of the bed for me, would you love?”

His lovely Ryan gives Gavin one more kiss before realizing he was given an order, and he moves away, settling down with his back to the headboard. His hair is an absolute mess from how Gavin has been grabbing at him, and his lips are shiny. Already, they’re bruising up nicely from the kissing. Gavin loves it. 

He slowly walks towards Ryan, gently tucking himself away and just pulling his briefs back up, kicking his jeans away. He doesn’t need them anymore. Ryan can see a phrase wrapping around one of Gavin’s thighs, but Gavin doesn’t pay a lick of attention to it. He moves down to the base of the bed, directly across from Ryan. 

Gavin places one knee, then the other, onto the bed so deliberately and carefully it looks like this was scripted. He crawls his way up Ryan’s legs, kissing him again and grinding his hand against Ryan’s crotch, feeling how hard he is. 

“Mmm, I’ll bet you taste as divine as you feel. But that’s not for now, is it? I just want to make you feel good. You deserve it. You’re so good, Ryan.”

Gavin has noticed Ryan really likes the praise, and he pops open Ryan’s fly, unzipping his pants and reaching in. God, he’s so hard. Gavin pulls out Ryan’s cock and smears precum with his thumb, laughing softly as he glances down. It’s not mean, and in fact, Gavin rewards Ryan even more with another kiss. 

“It’s like you were made with me in mind. You have everything I adore, a perfect mouth, perfect cock. I’ll bet if you wanted, this would stuff me full in every way that I crave, wouldn’t it? It’d make me so happy.” 

Gavin starts slowly pumping Ryan’s cock, spreading his precum around and watching the way Ryan reacts to him. Ryan is digging into the bedsheets, and Gavin loves it. 

“My sweet, lovely Ryan. Make me so happy, so good for me. Imagine how much everyone will love you. We’d all love you, feel the way you want to please us all. My darling Ryan would be able to do it, so talented.”

Gavin can feel Ryan’s cock throb in his hand, and he knows he’s said something really nice now. Ryan’s eyes are wide open as if he hadn’t considered the rest of them, and Gavin solves that by stroking him a bit faster, eager to make Ryan cum over the both of them. 

“God, you’re so perfect. So, so perfect. So good. You wouldn’t cum until we told you, would you? You’d do anything to please us. I wouldn’t dare hold you back, love. I’ll bet your face is beautiful when you reach your peak. Show us, wouldn’t you? Cum for me, Ryan.”

Ryan is panting hard and Gavin is thriving off of it. It’s the most noise he’s ever heard the man make, and it’s so fucking beautiful. It doesn’t take very long at all before Ryan’s back is arching. He groans out a noise so deep and perfect that Gavin’s almost left reeling. Gavin doesn’t stop stroking Ryan, wanting to squeeze out every sound that he can. It’s interesting to know how deep Ryan’s voice would be if he spoke.

Instead, Gavin kind of gets lost in the way Ryan looks in his afterglow. He tugs back his hips before too long, his thighs trembling hard with how sensitive his orgasm has made him. Ryan is panting, flushed from his cheeks all the way down his neck. God, what Gavin would give to see Ryan’s entire chest flushed with arousal. 

“Fuck Rye, you look  _ wonderful _ .”

Gavin licks his hand clean, but he’s interrupted by Ryan sitting up and kissing him hard. Gavin eagerly leans into the touches, loving how Ryan starts grabbing at him. Ryan is holding tight to Gavin when he blows a raspberry against Gavin’s lips, making the Lad giggle and try to get away. Ryan doesn’t let him though, hugging him tight and kissing him again. He only lets Gavin sit in his lap when he wants to talk to him. Ryan asks if Gavin wants to shower, but mentions that he’d like to sleep. Gavin snorts, tugging off his own shirt and wiping off his hand, tossing his shirt onto the floor. There’s lines of text on his body, but Gavin just casually goes for Ryan’s shirt, tugging at the base of it. He catches a glimpse of words on his hipbone, but all he sees is ‘big’ which tells him nothing.

Ryan pushes down on Gavin’s hands, shaking his head. 

Gavin huffs, but Ryan gives him a kiss and it sates him for now. 

Ryan compromises by taking his pants off and cuddling Gavin close, kissing him even as he situates himself as the big spoon. He keeps kissing, leaving love all over the back and sides of Gavin’s neck. Gavin tries to shut his neck by tilting his head and tucking up his shoulder, but Ryan is insistant. 

“Quit tickling you silly little sausage! Go to sleep now, love.”

Ryan gives such a soft little laugh and Gavin feels his heart swell. He listens, though, Ryan settling down and letting Gavin sleep in peace. Soon, they both sink off into oblivion, entirely at ease with the other there. 

Eventually, though, duty calls and Gavin has to pee, like, yesterday. He struggles out of Ryan’s embrace, heading off to the bathroom. He takes a moment when he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror, looking at the words decorating his body. Gavin twists every which way, and he braces himself, trying desperately to find words he never noticed before. 

God, Ryan really isn’t his.

Gavin walks back into the room, just trying to ignore it, but he’s struck short by how peaceful Ryan looks. He’s so horribly sweet, and he’s just laying there, unaware to the world. Gavin sees his fingers twitch, and then Ryan reaches out, grabbing softly at empty blankets as if to drag Gavin close again.

How could Ryan not be his?

Gavin is suddenly floored by how much he wants this. He loves Ryan like he loves the rest of the crew. They’re all meant to be together. They  _ have _ to be. But Gavin is just here distracting Ryan from who he’s meant to be with. Ryan could be happy with someone else and it’s the worst thing Gavin thinks he’s ever thought. 

He only realizes that he’s crying when he realizes that Ryan isn’t going to be with them forever. 

Once the tears start, he can’t stop them. 

Gavin starts crying hard, shaking and hardly able to get himself to sit on the edge of the bed, shaking and actually holding a hand over his mouth so that he doesn’t make as much noise. He doesn’t want to disturb Ryan anymore than he already has. 

Gavin is torn up enough that he doesn’t immediately notice that Ryan has woken up and is crouched in front of him. He seems worried, unable to give Gavin reassuring words. He carefully takes Gavin’s hands, trying to get Gavin to look him in the eyes. It takes a couple minutes of trying, but eventually Gavin can concentrate enough to do it. Seeing the honest look on Ryan’s face only gets him worse, and he blubbers, new, hot tears streaming down his face.

“Oh Ryan, I-I’m so sorry I just- you fit so well in here with us but I know that you have someone else waiting for you and it’s  _ killing  _ me.”

Ryan obviously can’t give Gavin words, but Gavin’s voice just sounds so full of hurt. Ryan seems a bit unsure, but he begins kissing Gavin, just kissing him until Gavin can’t remember why he was crying. Ryan holds him close, arms wrapped around his new love as Gavin settles into hiccups. Ryan leans back only when he thinks Gavin can handle it, and his hands are oddly slow as he tells Gavin he wants to show him something. 

Gavin tilts his head, and he goes to ask questions but Ryan shushes him, placing a finger to his lip. He walks off and turns the lights on before getting close again and beginning to push down his underwear. Gavin gasp, unsure of what this means, but Ryan is turning and oh, he just wanted to show Gavin his tail bone?

He has a tramp stamp. 

Gavin is not sure why this is the appropriate time to tell him, but he leans in and tries to make sense of the words. When he does, he laughs, looking at Ryan like he’s fishing for cars in the woods.

“That’s what I asked you in the car! Wait- wot? Why would you get that tattooed?”

Ryan takes a second and he just allows the exasperation to calm his nerves a bit. Gavin keeps looking at it, and then he stops suddenly, gasping and leaning back.

“Oh  _ shit _ .” 

His fingers reach forward, Gavin gingerly tracing the marks. He was…? Gavin doesn’t get to finish his thought. Ryan fixes his underwear, then lets Gavin know he wants to show him something else, but Gavin  _ must _ be quiet. Gavin nods, locking his lips shut and throwing away the key. Gavin can see now that Ryan is trembling so hard, but Gavin would never laugh, not again. He only did because of the absurdity. How could he have become soulmates with a man so perfect?

Ryan grabs the hem of his shirt, twisting it a moment in nerves before nearly ripping it off, as if he’s going to lose his nerve a second later. Gavin is face-to-face with those beautiful abs, but then he’s drawn to the words all over. He sees some weird phrase about tomatoes. He giggles, because that sounds like something Jack would say. Then he sees the words “Timmy Tim” and that’s all it takes to know that’s Jeremy. He sees Michael’s words on Ryan’s arm. No one else could possibly say that. Finally, Geoff’s words are scrawled across his hipbone, and Gavin can hardly believe it. He remembers Geoff telling them about it. 

Gavin takes two seconds to reel it in, and then he’s jumping onto Ryan, squealing and so, so excited. He can’t believe it!! He’s squeezing Ryan tightly in a hug, just cuddling him close and squeaking. Ryan shushes Gavin, not wanting him to wake everyone up. Gavin does his best to be quiet, but how can he possibly be quiet? He knew Ryan fit with them! He knew it!

“We have to tell everyone, Rye! All this time, we felt like something was missing and it was you! No wonder we didn’t know, you’ve never said a word, have you love?”

Ryan shakes his head, and Gavin just has to cling to his trembling hands. Ryan is so nervous. Gavin smiles softly at him, rubbing his thumbs across the backs of those shaking hands. 

“Oh Rye, it’s been so long that you’ve kept this a secret. It must make you so nervous to think about. I can- I can be there, holding your hand when you show them. I won’t make you now, it can be our secret of course, but- They deserve to know. Especially… Especially now, when everyone was thinking about you joining. Well, almost everyone. Michael has his doubts, and I think Geoff does too, but when they see that you’re our soulmate they- they’ll come around!”

Ryan’s face is so vulnerable and scared that Gavin needs to kiss him. He kisses Ryan softly, then urges him back to bed. Knowing that they’re soulmates, that Ryan isn’t going to leave them, that Gavin’s hands really are meant to fit so perfectly into Ryan’s- it’s everything Gavin could want. Sure, he’s got so many loves that he would give anything for, and Ryan is just another. Gavin kisses Ryan again as they settle back into falling asleep. He knows they’ll have to talk about this, but now they have forever. 

\---

Gavin wakes up just a couple hours later, but he feels so well rested. This time, when he looks at Ryan’s sleeping face, it comes with a complete sense of peace. Gavin raises a hand, pushing softly through Ryan’s hair and giving Ryan soft kisses on his cheeks. He’s just enjoying his time alone with the tired man when he sees Ryan’s nose wrinkle up and he huffs. Ryan tugs his arm out from under the pillow, wrapping it around Gavin and dragging him close. Gavin can’t help laughing as Ryan crushes him into the bed, cuddling him and trying hard to make him go back to sleep. 

Yeah, this is the life. 

As cute as it is, Gavin knows they have to get up soon. He knows he’s not hungry yet, but he will be, so he sees fit to complain.

“Ryaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan c’mon, I’m hungry and it’s time for breakfast!”

Gavin squawks the words while patting Ryan’s chest. Ryan responds by writing on his chest. Gavin deciphers the word ‘cereal’ and he whines in response. He just keeps whining until Ryan gets up and goes to get showered. The Lad is more than happy to follow after. 

After their shower, Gavin is surprised when Ryan hands him a shirt. It’s obviously much too big. Gavin loves it immediately. He tugs on his normal pants and enjoys how the sleeves are so incredibly long on him. They get pushed up to his elbows. Gavin takes his normal eyeliner out of his pocket, setting the gold mixture into a nice wing on his eyelids. He glances over to see Ryan has given himself some eyeshadow. He’s currently directing those pretty blue eyes towards Gavin, admiring the way Gavin has done his makeup. Gavin gives Ryan a smile and watches as he pulls his hair back into the tie. 

They finally leave the room. They entangled hands separate as Ryan heads into the kitchen and Gavin just piles himself on top of Geoff. He gives Geoff a happy kiss, and Geoff grunts softly, tugging Gavin close to kiss him back. 

“Did you have fun last night?” Geoff asks. 

“I don’t think it could have gone better.” Gavin replies. 

Breakfast is ready before too much longer. The crew gathers at the table, settling down and chowing into their food. Gavin notices the way Ryan’s fingers shake, and he gives his new love a smile.

It settles Ryan’s shaking down enough that he can tell everyone he has something he wants to show them. Geoff immediately leans forward, curious.

“What’re you showing us, buddy?”

“Yeah, it isn’t like, a dismembered head or anything right?”

Ryan huffs out a rather indignant sigh. Jack laughs, his hand patting Michael’s shoulder in jest. 

“You know he doesn’t repeat things twice. It would be a hand or something this time.”

Everyone laughs at this, but Ryan just huffs louder and finishes his breakfast. He heads away to attend to his dishes first, and Gavin collects the plates so that he can follow after. Sure enough, by the time they’re all done, Ryan seems to almost be on the way to a panic attack. He takes one look at the crew in the living room and he cringes back. Gavin catches him, making sure Ryan looks at him and giving him such a sweet kiss.

“It’s okay Ryan, they want to know.” 

Ryan doesn’t look entirely convinced, but he squeezes Gavin’s hand hard as he heads out into the living room. He stands in front of the TV, takes a deep breath, and whips off his shirt. Gavin notices he seems fond of just ripping off the bandaid.

“Woah! Ryan I know we’re an open family but we don’t need to-”

Jack stops mid-sentence, just staring. They all are. 

“Is that-?” Jack whispers, his voice barely a breath as he remembers the tomato incident from so long ago. 

“Wait, what the fuck?” Michael’s incredulous breath comes from his view of Ryan’s arm, where he can see a phrase that’s most definitely something he remembers saying.

“Oh god, why didn’t I say something cooler?” Jeremy just settles for covering his eyes as if he can hide from his enormous crush on Ryan. All he can think about is how Ryan had to live with a  _ typo _ .

Geoff can see his phrase, knows that’s what got him thrown to the bar floor, and all he can say is, “Huh.” To know Ryan is his soulmate… that Ryan is  _ all  _ their soulmate, is kind of strange. 

Gavin gives a little laugh from the underwhelming reactions. Ryan looks absolutely pitiful, so Gavin comes over to give him a nice kiss. He pets softly through Ryan’s hair, leaning against him as he speaks.

“You can put your shirt back on love, they’ve all seen theirs.” 

Ryan hurries to put his shirt on. He still seems so incredibly embarrassed, but Gavin is such a solid presence there for him. He’s glad that he showed Gavin first.

“Looks like you were right about him fitting in here. It makes sense none of us have tattoos for him.”

Gavin looks up when Geoff speaks to him, grinning and nodding. Ryan has escaped from his grip and has tucked himself on the couch, earning some pity pats from Jeremy. 

Everyone had to take time adjusting from that moment on. Gavin had fully accepted Ryan into his heart, working with him almost flawlessly. Jack and Jeremy were certainly head over heels, just as they were with the rest of them, but it was still a learning process. Michael was a bit put off by how weird Ryan could get sometimes, along with the language barrier. Geoff could see even he was falling in love. With the way Ryan endlessly took care of them all, it was hard not to. 

After nearly a month, the crew had settled into a new order. Michael and Geoff have finally gotten used to Ryan. They might have been unsettled at some point, but more often than not, Ryan can be found amongst all three lads, or with the gents. He blends with both groups effortlessly. Everyone can be together in peace, as well as harshness. Six criminals can’t always be perfect, and they do argue sometimes.

It’s a learning process, though.

A learning process where they all open up with each other. Over time, they learn why Ryan won’t speak a word. They share with Ryan their own traumas and quirks; how Gavin got to America, why Geoff drank for years until suddenly he didn’t, why Michael gets nervous when he hears specific tones of voice. Sometimes Ryan will catch a glimpse of Jeremy unloading and reloading his gun exactly six times before every heist, and then see Jack do the exact same thing. One day, he learns the reason behind that too. 

Nothing is easy with them. Have their lives ever been easy? Ironically enough, the easy answer is no. Sometimes they fuck up. Sometimes, someone forgets to look at Ryan when he’s talking. Sometimes, Gavin fights to have Ryan all to himself for a night, because he says Ryan is his. Even if it all turns into fights and arguments, soon those melt into kisses and apologies. Ryan feels sorry for all the turmoil he causes, and yet…

Everything just fits. 

For once in his shitshow of a life, he fits in. 

Everyone around him loves and accepts him. No one ever pressures him to speak. Ryan knows he couldn’t ever say a word, and even though sometimes he wants to tell them how much he loves them, the words don’t come out. He knows he could say them. He knows how to talk. He remembers what his voice sounded like so, so long ago. 

To speak now would be a Bad Thing, but they understand.

They actually  _ understand _ , and it’s something Ryan hasn’t ever understood before.

At some point, Ryan actually catches Jack and Gavin trying to teach the other Lads sign language. It warms his heart so much he has to interrupt the lesson, smothering everyone in the love they give him every day.

That love is what binds them in a cosmic way. Their souls were meant for each other, but even before they knew that, they loved him.

In a way, they kind of always had, just from the beginning.

And that’s the way it would always be.


End file.
